Meeting Death
by SpilledInkWell
Summary: Loki has miscalculated, will he survive trying to correct his past mistakes? Features Avengers and Thanos. NO SLASH. Read, review, and enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

Hi guys, please rate and review I read will read everything you throw at me. Where this fic goes depends on you. Possible character deaths, just so you know.

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Perhaps it was not the smartest thing he'd done baiting the Archer. Well Selvig worked on a device to get them back to Asgard via the cube, S.H.I.E.L.D had put him back into containment, and Stark was not surprisingly his first visitor. Loki was sitting at the far side of the cell head leaning against the wall willing the after effects of the Hulk's attack away, and watched as Stark stared him down nursing a glass of scotch.

"Pity, you didn't bring one for me."

"Didn't think I had one left that was strong enough for you, seeing as you did destroy half my bar, and my tower, and New York."

He closed his eyes as a smile threatened to bloom across his features. "Oops." Listening as Stark walked away it wasn't long before the Archer came to have his say. He marched in a dark look on his face.

"Lo-."

"Barton, there is hardly anything _else_ you can tell me that I don't already know." Loki drawled. He kept his face smooth watching as Barton's took on a purple hue.

"Go to Hell."

Loki tilted his head to the side confused. "But I saw her just last week."

Barton's nostrils flared and he turned marching out of the room. Loki didn't see anyone else for a long time. The God of Mischief was bored. Lying on the metal cot, he watched the security camera across from him. After a few hours curiosity got the best of him. He watched the guard just outside through the window in the door. The man was facing outside not even looking inside the room. Loki returned his attention to the security camera, and casually flicked a stroke of magic at it. A muffled voice came from the door and the guard walked in and stared at him. Loki lifted an eyebrow. The man mouth gapped opened and closed like a fish. The man turned a walked out a hand to his ear piece.

Loki chuckled to himself and without taking his gaze off the retreating guard, he flicked another stroke of magic at the camera causing it to flicker back on.

Loki dozed. As fun as it had been messing with the guard, manipulating shadows in his peripheral vision, causing random loose objects to fall over in his wake, sending disembodied whispers to his ears, it had gotten a little boring after a while. So Loki dozed and waited. They needed nothing from him right now it was safe enough to sleep; he doubted Thor would allow them to do anything to him until they returned to Asgard. And he needed rest. His body needed some time to recover.

It was a long while until Thor walked in with another agent Loki didn't know, who was carrying a case. "They love to be official don't they?", he thought. Loki sat up blinking the sleep from his eyes and stretching his stiff muscles. The metal perch had not been the most comfortable of places to rest. Thor had his eyes downcast, for that moment.

"Cat got your tongue, Thor?" The golden haired god chuckled, a nervous rumble in his chest.

Thor's face turned serious. "You've made the mortals nervous, brother." The agent opened the case unceremoniously. Loki leaned closer to the glass trying to peer inside the case and stopped. The shackles of course were to be expected, but lying in the red felt beside them was a metal muzzle. Loki's face went blank and he stared straight forward. A muzzle. He was going to go back and walk through Asgard in a muzzle. He was distantly aware as Thor put on the muzzle and shackles. As the shackles went on Loki shivered involuntarily, an odd feeling shot up his limbs and he blinked. He stared forward not showing any emotion, not acknowledging any look Thor sent him.

The agent started speaking in a monotone. "Mr. Stark and Mr. Banner were able to isolate your energy signature enough to interrupt any attempt you make to escape. Should you try to teleport, or…..do anything else, these may prove…..inconvenient." Loki gave no sign that he had heard as Thor came forward and led him out of the facility.

It didn't matter; they all thought he was a monster anyway. They wouldn't be thinking of him as a prince of Asgard any longer. The other avengers had joined them outside. The smug look on Barton's face told Loki he was responsible for the muzzle. That mortal would not be smiling next they meet, he would be sure of that. S.H.E.I.L.D. provided a government vehicle. The other Avengers followed in own vehicles. They drove to an open area near what Barton had called Central Park. Loki could feel the hum of the Tesseract's presence in the car. But he didn't look at Thor as he felt his eyes fall on him. They stepped out of the black car and Thor pushed him forward none too gently. Loki swept his gaze across the surrounding Avengers. Eyes full of anger, suspicion, hostility, and caution met his.

Thor stepped in front of him brought forward the device containing the Tesseract, and looked at Loki expectantly. Loki complied meeting Thor's stormy gaze for the first time and grabbing one of the golden handles of the device. Thor looked at his surroundings once more, before turning the golden handle of Selvig's device and engulfing them in blue.


	2. Chapter 2

I see I got a couple readers, yahoo! Thank-you so much! I hope you guys like this chapter. Please continue reviewing, lets see if I can get a couple more follows.

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They landed at the end of the Bifrost bridge. Heimdall stood sentinel and nodded to Thor as they passed.

"What news Heimdall?"

The golden eyed god scanned the far off stars. "Worlds not before seen stir, their ways are unknown to me." Thor nodded and continued forward, pushing his once-brother along.

Loki stared down at the sun dancing off the links of his shackles. They had been particularly uncomfortable, during the short time it took to get to Asgard. The odd buzzing they issued had intensified slightly sending the odd feeling vibrating up his limbs. However the moment they touched down on the fractured bridge the buzzing withdrew, shrinking back to hum against his wrists. Loki twisted his head, the muscles in his arms twitched.

Infernal mortal irritant.

Thor's hand tightened on his shoulder, and marching them both forward, their feet lighting up the broken bridge as they went. Loki looked up at the city for the first time, the golden pillars and shining spires no longer held the same majesty for Loki as they once did. The towers now stood like waiting glistening spears. Although not a soul was to be seen, save an odd guard here and there, he could feel the animosity coming towards him, seeping through the windows. He kept his head facing straight forward, trying to look as regal as he could wearing shackles and _a muzzle_.

Loki shook his head again, it was as if he could still feel the Chitari stench still swimming around him. Even a few of the disciplined guard seemed to curl their lips upward as he past. The situation was not lost on Thor as they continued forward, his frown visibly deepened somewhat. He quickened their pace.

It was when the looming double doors stood around the corner that Loki planned his feet in the shadow of a nearby building. Thor came to an awkward stop as the man he had been pushing forward became as moveable as a brick wall.

"Loki?" Thor said a half growl.

Loki stared at Thor for a moment, then glanced down at the muzzle, then back at Thor again, quirking his eyebrow upward as he did so. Thor's eyes cleared in understanding. He half reached out toward the muzzle and stopped. He looked Loki in the eye.

"Loki….don't make things worse. You can still redeem yourself." Thor reached behind Loki's neck and undid the clasp, letting the muzzle fall to the ground. Loki stared at Thor a moment, working his jaw.

"I highly doubt that Thor." With that Loki started forward again, but Thor's hand landed on his shoulder stopping him. Thor's stormy eyes met his yet again, staring straight through him, as if looking for that lost piece of redemption.

"You can." Thor's hand stayed on his shoulder as they rounded that last corner to the looming grand hall doors. Thor's trouble expression returned as four sneering guards pried open the doors. An overwhelming sensation assaulted Loki as he took his first steps into the hall, a tired, but stern-looking Odin slumped on the throne.

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Thanks for reading guys, I've got some mischief planned for the next chapter so stay tuned!


	3. Chapter 3

Yeah! A couple more follows! However I do need some reviews! Come one you got to have something to say. I need some constructive criticism here. Oh and the Avengers are going to be in this fiction just so you know. :)

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As they stepped inside the golden hall Loki looked Thor a confused look on his face. "Thor?" Thor didn't seem to hear him as he continued forward beside his brother, red cape billowing behind him.

Guards came to either side of Loki and Thor, planning to take the prisoner forward, their faces stern. Thor shook his head and waved them away. Frowning they turned away, moving back to guard the doors. Thor continued pushing Loki forward, whose steps had become slightly more hesitant.

The strange sensation had not relented; as Loki watched Thor it was clear he didn't seem to notice it. It couldn't be the shackles, which still hung happy on his wrists, humming away. This felt different, like insects dancing across his skin. What was Odin doing? He looked about them. On any other day the hall would be open to the sky, nothing but pillars to hold up the ceiling. Today the hall was closed to the outside world. Golden armored walls hung between the pillars, folded downward to the floor to encase them.

Torches hung from every pillar giving light to the hall. Loki's' feet dragged across the designs shooting across the floor. The hall stood empty save for the group of guards at the door and a group gathered round the throne.

Odin watched Loki approach, Thor at his side. He must have sent Frigga away. Loki thought almost grateful for the lack of her presence. A memory surfaced in Loki's mind.

"_And your death came by the son of Odin." Gungnir gave a crack, as he sent another blast toward the red eyed monster, causing it to disintegrate._

_His mother ran up to him, passing the sleeping All-father . "Loki, you saved him." She embraced him. He held her a moment, then lightly pushed her back, still holding her arms. _

_He looked into his mother's glittering eyes, "I swear to you mother, that they will pay for what they have done today."_

"_Loki." An angry god of thunder glared at him from the doorway._

"Loki." Loki surfaced from his thoughts and tried to shake away the growing feeling of the pin-points dancing across his back. Thor was looking at him. They had stopped a respectful distance from the throne. Loki kept his eyes trained on Odin.

Thor looked from his father to Loki and spoke, "Father I have brought the Tesseract." He let his hand fall away from Loki's shoulder and held out the device that had been hanging from his belt. Odin nodded and motioned for the guard beside him to bring it to him. The guard came forward took the device and brought it back to Odin bowing as he did so. The guard retreated back to his post.

The all-father held the device in his lap and stared at it for a moment, then looked to Loki. Odin's voice carried through the hall although he spoke not much louder than a whisper, sounding sad. "Loki, what happened to you?"

Thor watched as whatever angry retort that might have been ready on his brother's lips faded away. Loki shivered again and Thor started to wonder why his brother kept shaking. Loki's shoulder's hunched and his eyes fell to the floor. He closed his eyes. As Thor looked on he thought about how he had found him in the top floor of Starks tower, his army had been destroyed, and he had been beaten into submission by the Hulk. And yet he had smiled up at the arrow pointing at face and jokingly requested a drink. It wasn't until now, that Loki truly seemed defeated, standing in chains in front of his father.

When Loki finally opened his eyes and spoke his voice was hollow. "Death failed to find me in the abyss, so I continued to fall until I smashed into some forsaken rock. I laid there bleeding until I was found." Loki closed his eyes again, not seeming to want to continue. Odin was about to utter something else, when Loki's eyes flashed open and he raked his shackled hands through his hair, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Loki turned on the spot looking around him.

Thor was wondering if his brother had truly gone mad, when he heard Heimdall's horn sound in the distance. Then another strange yet familiar noise came from the doors, something between a chattering and a grunt. Thor looked to the doors just in time, as a faint scraping sound issued from around the doors, the air shifted in a wave around the four Asgardian guards to reveal four Chitauri soldiers. The scraping sound echoed on various parts of that side of the hall revealing more Chitauri soldiers on that side of the room.

Thor glanced behind him, and sighed in relief; the four Asgardian soldiers around his father had not changed and had taken defensive positions around the all-father. Odin had stood up and now had his spear Gungnir in his right hand and the Tesseract device in his left.

Loki stepped backward and swiftly counted the number of Chitauri on the opposite side of the hall.

Thirty.

Against seven.

Oh joy.

A Chitauri stepped forward yelling something in their garbled language and pointed, straight at Loki and Thor's chests. The Chitauri raised their guns in unison and fired.

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Heheheh, until next time my ducks!


	4. Chapter 4

Oh my dear readers thank you for being so patient, I see all my new followers welcome! And thank you for those new reviews. Keep them coming I love to know what you think. Do enjoy this chapter my dears!

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As the guns came up Loki focused on a point behind him on the steps beside the throne above the guns line of fire. Summoning magic he willed himself there, he felt it as he started to stretch.

Suddenly the shackles on his wrists shot vibrations up his arms, continuing through to his head to focus screaming in his earlobes.

The guns fired.

His concentration broke snagging him in place and he threw his shackled hands up to cup over his ears, bowing his head, and barring his teeth. Something bowled into him and he felt a burning in his right side as he was slammed to the floor. The vibrating retreated back to his wrists and his ears cleared.

Thor dragged him upward to his feet, "Why didn't you move!" They dodged in opposite directions as another volley was shot their way. Loki held up the shackles for Thor to see and he surged forward to meet the advancing Chitauri. He heard Thor roar behind him as Mjolnir soared past in his peripheral vision.

He weaved to his left dodging more lightening blue energy bolts toward the wall. His side burned as he advanced. Inconvenient, that's what the mortal had said. He growled under his breath as he threw the chain separating the shackles over the head of a Chitauri, grinding the links of the chain against the wires fused to its spine. The foul creature expired and slumped forward. He laughed and threw it forward toward one of its fellows.

The next creature dodged and surged forward shrieking, bringing his gun arm down toward his head. Loki brought the chain up again, only to hear a snap and feel pain erupt on the top his head, his vision going dark.

Foolish mortals could not even make a proper chain. He sent a blind kick forward and felt it connect with a metallic torso. His vision cleared. The same Chitauri was surging forward again.

Loki backed toward the wall. This was not right. A blow like that should have felled a normal Chitauri. They should not have been able to retaliate this quickly anyway, where had they come from? The mortals had destroyed their ships hadn't they? He sent a quick glance around.

Even Thor was having trouble. Although three Chitauri lay dead around him, he was surrounded and using Mjolnir to fight and dodge too many things at once. He couldn't throw Mjolnir without risking a shot in the back, and as he watched Thor send an archs of electricity around him, it only gave him a brief reprieve as his enemies froze momentarily with the electricity then surged forward again as it stopped.

Two of Odin's guards had apparently tried to come to their aid but now lay motionless on the floor. The remaining two guards and a very tired Odin were hard pressed as the Chitauri danced away from the blasts of his once-father's golden spear. The small group around the throne responded in kind with blue flashes with their own weapons. The guards parried the bolts on the shafts of their spears.

Loki frantically fought back two more Chitauri that charged forward grabbing ones gun-arm and using it to shoot the other. Loki was adept at hand to hand combat, but without magic, a shield or a proper weapon to fight with he could only last so long. Despite the broken chain the shackles still hummed at his wrists. The only thing keeping him on his feet was he had managed to back himself up against one of the pillars, giving himself some cover.

Why had no one come? Where were the other guards? He flinched as a bolt niched his shoulder. Loki heard a familiar voice cry out in pain, and turned toward the noise. Odin slumped forward clutching his chest; his armor was scorched black from one of the energy blasts. All-father…

The Chitaur's attention turned as a thundering boom shook the room, Thor's roar echoed across the walls. He grabbed the nearest Chitauri by the head, with his left hand, and threw him at the nearest armored wall. There was a loud crash as the creature dented the metal then for just a moment silence fell as it slid lifeless to the ground. Then Mjolnir continued its rampage, as Thor let loose his unbridled rage, swinging the hammer into the chest of one Chitauri and into the face of another.

Loki's eyes flicked back to movement near the throne. One guard was still standing over the fallen Odin. Odin handed him the tesseract and his mouth moved. Odin's eye searched the room , until he met Loki's for a moment and he slumped backward closing his eye. Loki watched his chest rise and fall, not dead, the sleep had taken him then.

One Chitauri not shooting toward Thor, took another swing at Loki who brought up his arm to block and winced feeling the shackle get hammered against his skin. But Odin's last guard ran toward him ducking and dodging the stray bolts in his path and stabbed one shrieking Chitauri with his spear. Loki edged toward toward him ducking behind a pillar to avoid another blow. The guard reached him and handed the Tesseract device to him quickly.

"By All-father's order, keep it safe." The guard met his eyes. A bolt fired past them. Why had Odin wanted _him_ to have it? Loki's eyes flicked to his brother, wondering how much longer he could fight them off. His eyes moved back down to the Tesseract. Odin knew he could hide it. He made up his mind.

"Give me a moment; do not let me get hit." Loki braced himself, taking a breath. He quickly summoned his magic, feeling the cuffs send vibrations shooting to his skull in protest. But he was ready for it this time. He ground his teeth and vanished the Tesseract device placing it in the dimension between where he had once hidden Jotunheim's infamous ice casket. Loki quickly severed the link to his magic, returning to himself, and staggered. The vibrations retreated back to his wrists once again. He touched his hand to his right ear his fingers meeting a thin trail of dark blood.

The last guard took a bolt to the face and fell at Loki's feet. A clawed hand seized Loki's right arm drawing blood. Loki lashed out with his other hand reaching for the creature's vulnerable spine. But another creature's hand flashed forward grabbing his left hand. Loki thrashed kicking in their grip aiming for the knees trying to cripple one of them. His struggles sent trails of blood down his arms where the claws dug in.

"Loki!"

Thor had seen him and dashed forward, a bolt struck his right hand.

He dropped Mjolnir.

The god of thunder stumbled forward his eyes wide as first one, and then two, then three flashes, almost like lightening came from behind him. His momentum carried him forward another step. Then a Chitauri jumped forward and slammed his gun down on the god's head. The golden haired warrior fell; face down on the ground, a gaping hole in the armor of his back, revealing scorched flesh and muscle.

The Chitauri brought his gun up to strike again hefting it high over his head.

Loki thrashed against the clawed grips "NO!"

A sudden pop issued from the center of the room, and the Chitauri stopped and looked up. A large purple skinned man came into being sitting on a gleaming silver metal chair hovering just above the floor, technology spread across the armrests. His skin looked like dark blood in the torchlight. He stood, his eyes, a deep space blue found Loki.

"Ah, Loki my friend, I find you near to death yet again."

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Bwahahahaha! Until next we meet my dears!


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you more and more followers. Remember to review! I want to know if you're enjoying what I've done.

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The being stood nearly seven feet tall, his shoulders much broader than Loki's, wearing a few bits of golden armor looking more ceremonial, then for fighting. His broad face looked close to humanoid, save the vertical ridges on his chin. The Chitauri ranks, which were half as numerous as they had been when they arrived, parted as his hulking figure past. His deep space blue eyes glared at the two Chitauri holding Loki. They gave a chattering hiss in protest, but let go.

Loki barred his teeth at them as they let go, then he started forward stepping over the body of the guard that had just been defending him. He looked at bodies of other guards that laid in random points around the room. His eyes betrayed no emotion as he met the Mad Titan mere feet away from where Thor lay.

His eyes swept across his not-brother momentarily. He could not see him breathing. He looked up into the taller being's eyes, his lip curled up in distaste.

"Thanos….you were not to attack Asgard. I did as you asked I went after the tesseract."

The Titan's eyes surveyed the room. The Chitauri shuffled uneasily as his eyes ran across them. He returned his attention to Loki. "I?" Obvious amusement swam in the Titan's eyes. "I did not attack Asgard. I did _nothing_." Loki narrowed his eyes. " As you might have guessed the Chitauri are not pleased with you." The taller being's face darkened minutely, sending shivers cascading down Loki's spine. Dark memories surfaced in Loki's mind, but he pushed them back. The Mad Titan spoke again, "As for the Tesseract, you failed to keep it at hand, instead wasting your time trying to capture that mortal planet."

His tone lightened, "However now that you have the Tesseract, I suppose I could be lenient."

Loki ignored the last statement, "I cannot help that the supposedly competent army _you_ provided me with was too inept to defeat five mortals and my idiot brother. _You_ agreed that I would receive payment, you could not give me Asgard, and so I chose Midgard."

The Titan's eyes glowed red for a moment, but Loki stood his ground. They faded back to their deep space blue. The Titan took a breath to calm himself, "You tread dangerously, venomous prince. You lead this inept army, it is _you_ who have failed."

Loki replied calmly, "One man cannot win a war if he does not have servants…." He spat that last word and glared at the surrounding Chitauri. "….that are willing to obey him. How are there even surviving Chitauri soldiers left? I was under the impression that the mortals blew up their ship."

A gurgling sound interrupted them. Thanos walked toward it. Loki turned watching him. The guard that had been defending Loki earlier, had propped himself against the wall and was now struggling to draw in breath. The Chitauri watched as Thanos kneeled beside the fallen guard. Loki saw the fear on the guard's ravaged face, as the Titan set his hand on the guard's chest and smiled.

"To death." The Mad Titans hand glowed a bright red and energy pulsed forth biting into the guard's chest. The guards breathing ceased. Loki ground his teeth.

"I do not appreciate the spilling of Asgardian blood."

The Mad Titan stood and walked back to Loki, considering him for a moment. "You worry for Asgard?"

"I will not have Asgard fall to the Chitari."

Thanos laughed, a sound similar to tumbling rocks. "You speak as if you could have prevented it, were that their goal. No, the Chitauri no longer have the resources to hold Asgard indefinitely. After seeing the mortal team, they made a small elite force to ensure victory. The leviathan they were on was able to outrun the explosion, hence the force you see before you. " The smile fell from his face. "Enough of this give me the Tesseract."

Loki backed a pace toward Thor, "If you are here for the tesseract and they aren't here for Asgard, why are they here? "

Thanos glared down at him. "Last chance trickster, _give me the Tesseract_." The Chitauri formed a tight circle around him. He looked at Thor's motionless form from the corner of his eye. A phrase came to mind _Asgard rises and falls with the might of Thor. _His looked to the Throne, where the unconscious All-father lay. Then he looked past the Titan to the broken guard was still against the wall, but the life had fled from him.

He looked back at Thanos lifting an eyebrow, "Why?" Something in the Mad Titans expression snapped. His right hand flashed out encircling Loki's neck and lifting him off the ground. The Chitauri crowed in delight. Loki choked roughly in his grip. Loki's hands scrapped at the Titan's hold. He struggled to speak, "You did not did not give me Midgard, I did not get you the-"

Thanos tightened his grip and spoke bringing Loki inches from his face, "You want to know why the Chitauri are here?" The Titans eyes had started to glow red again, nothing but Loki's wordless choking answered him. "You assured them that the portal would stay open. Yet you had allowed one of the mortals to build a device capable of shutting it down, and then you just left the key to this device, ironically the spear_ they_ gave you, lieing not even out of sight of the device! As far as they are concerned, you let that bomb through the portal. You and the Avengers are finished!

Loki continued to choke, fighting to stay conscious. Thanos tilted his head, "What's wrong?" He shook Loki. "Is the snake out of venom?"

Loki took in as much air as he could, "Vv-venom?" He dug his finger nails into Thanos's arm the skin started to steam and blacken. The Titan howled and threw him to the ground. His head cracked against the floor, he gasped for air, and his ears rang from the fall and the effects of the shackles that still hung on his wrists. He blinked trying to clear his vision. Something cut deep into his right upper right arm and he screamed in pain as it felt like molten metal was being pumped into his veins.

A voice whispered sharp and menacing in his in ear, "You die slowly." His eyes cleared and Thanos was standing over him.

A moan sounded to his right, "Loki….." The Mad Titans eyes flashed to Thor who had started moving and was now trying to get his arms under him. The Titan smiled and brought his hands up, his palms started to grow a bright red.

"NO!" Loki threw his body backward so he was in front of Thor. He brought his left hand up; in the back of his mind it registered that he could not move his right arm. Red energy flew forward, but parted when it met Loki's hand. The Chitauri fell back shielding their faces. The mortal shackles had sensed his magic and were once again screaming in his ears. The energy intensified, and Loki felt himself fading. His vision started to dim, and he made the realization, they were going to die.

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Review, I will answer every single one.


	6. Chapter 6

The response to this fiction last chapter was awesome, thank you so much everyone, I just hope I continue to keep you guessing. Don't forget to review.

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Heimdall's sword sang through the chest of another Chitauri. Sif and the Warrior's Three had heard his call and had come to his aid and were cutting down the last two Chitauri in the group. Only three other Chitauri bodies lay at the end of the Bifrost bridge where they had ambushed him, simply appearing in the air. Heimdall was so unnerved, he hadn't _seen_ them coming.

But he saw them now. Small groups of two or more had appeared throughout Asgard causing chaos drawing the attention of surrounding guards. Heimdall ran to Sif, pulling her aside.

"You and the Warrior's Three have to get to the throne room."

Sif frowned at him. "What's happening?"

"Thor and Loki are in danger."

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Loki was burning. The mortal shackles screamed in his ears.

As Loki weakened trying desperately to hold the red barrage back, heat from the beam scorched forward searing at his skin and super heating his shackles. He glanced at the spot where the molten heat that had been in just his upper arm was now spreading starting to eat away at his shoulder. A silver disc was twisted into the skin of his upper arm, blood dripped in slithering lines away from it.

The screaming in his ears stopped. He looked at the shackle down at his right hand and then the shackle on his left. They glowed red hot from the oncoming beam, burning his skin but the humming vibrations had stopped. He chuckled to himself, it was too late anyway. He blinked the red beam now parted inches from his face. Feeling himself slump backward, he closed his eyes.

Something caught him. A pained bellow echoed behind him. The heat in front of his face stopped. He opened his eyes.

White veins of electricity danced above him dazzling his eyes. Thor's ruined right hand kept him up above the floor and Mjolnir was held high in his left. And then he was aware of another noise, he watched as Thanos backed away snarling, trying to shield himself from the electrical onslaught. He threw a brief blast of red energy toward them, but Thor halted his own attack and ducked forward flattening them to the floor.

Thanos backed into his gleaming silver chair that had been hovering near the center of the room. The titan's hand moved over the keypad on the armrest. A blue circle of light came alive around him.

Loki and Thor leaned heavily against each other as they got to their feet both finding it difficult to stand. The Chitauri regrouped surrounding them again. For a moment the only sound was heavy breathing. The not-brothers watched Thanos and he watched back, and narrowed his eyes.

He addressed the surrounding Chitauri, "Shoot them."

At that moment the doors of the hall burst open. The Warriors Three, Sif and six other guards burst in. Thor saw Sif at the lead spear in hand, her black tangled hair around her face, her eyes fierce.

Loki spoke at his side, and grabbed his right arm. "Hold on." The Chitauri guns fired at them, Thor watched the bolts fly toward his chest, but he had nowhere to dodge. An odd feeling hit him as if he was being stretched. There was a ripping sound and the golden hall flashed away. Then only Loki was beside him and it felt like they were falling. There was nothing but darkness, but voices still reached him.

He heard Sif scream out to him "Thor!" And Thanos's outraged cry, "Follow them!" Thor looked down and two Chitauri were falling into the darkness behind them.

Then sharp fragments of light entered the edges of his sight, like flashing blades coming toward them. The two Chitauri fell closer, one behind the other reaching for them claws outstretched. He saw Loki glance down beside him in his peripheral vision, and the darkness constricted around them bringing the blades of light closer.

The flashing blades hit the farthest Chitauri, and it howled desperately grasping for something to hold onto, but there was nothing. The light continued cutting forward until the creature disintegrated into the abyss. Seeing what had happened to its fellow, the other Chitauri lunged forward, and latched its claws into Thor's leg.

Thor roared and brought Mjolnir down on the Chitauri's hissing face, sending it into the flashing blades of light. The blades kept coming flashing forward edging closer to Thor's feet.

"Loki…."

He heard Loki's voice somewhat strained. "Brace yourself."

Thor heard a sound like glass breaking glass and the shafts of light shoot away from them. The darkness expanded and Thor felt pressure he hadn't realized was on him release. Wind whisked past his ears, the air around them shifted from darkness to a night time blue. Loki let go of him and he hit ground. Rocks dug themselves into the raw flesh of his back and he let go a gasp of pain. He lay there, staring at the stars. Jane's stars, they were in Midgard.

He heard Loki dragging in ragged breaths near him.

"Loki, why did you bring us back to Midgard?" A round of coughing answered him. Thor sat up and tried to get to his feet but the bleeding gash the Chitauri had left in his leg made him stumble. He managed to limp over to Loki's dark form.

"Loki?"

The clouds that had been in front of the moon cleared, letting the moonlight fall on Loki, and Thor saw his injuries. He lay trembling on his side, left hand clutched at a wound on his right. Blood was caked over one arm where a silver disk was latched into his flesh somehow. Of all the angry burns on his skin his left hand was the worst, black charred flesh. The shackles on both hands had dug into his flesh, leaving bleeding gashes on his wrists. The armor on one shoulder was burned away. He could have been a ghost from Helheim he was so pale. Angry red welts played around his neck…

"Loki…"

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Poor Loki... well until next time my wonderful readers! Remember to review!


	7. Chapter 7

I'm so glad you guys are liking this story! So here's another chapter coming your way! My sincere thanks to all my new followers and everyone who has reviewed! Thank you for making me smile.

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Loki coughed again, Thor reached down to try to help him to his feet, but the wounded trickster shook his head. Thor watched the muscle in his right arm twitch. Then he released his blackened left hand from the wound on his side. Groaning he rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up off the ground teetering dangerously as he got to his feet. Thor reached out again, "Loki, let me help you."

"No." Loki halfheartedly swatted Thor's hand aside, then walked over to the nearby rock face leaning his weight against it.

"Where on Midgard are we?" Thor said.

Loki rolled his eyes at him, "Use your eyes Thor."

Thor looked around him. They were on top of a mountain; he looked down and saw part of the forest below them had been flattened. Looking behind him where he landed, it was the same place he had thrown Loki down to confront him after taking him from the Quinjet, hardly a week ago.

He looked back to Loki, "Why did you bring us here?"

"I did not think you would appreciate landing in a populated area, on the off chance the Chitauri following us survived. But the humans are likely aware of our presence here anyway.

Thor limped toward him, "I mean, why have you brought us back to Midgard? Asgard is in trouble, father was in trouble, and we just _ran away_?

Loki sneered at him, "Look at yourself, do you truly believe that you or even I could have done anything more than hinder them at this point? If I had not moved us, we would have been either dead or drooling on the floor as they fought on."

"But we could have stayed, we could have-"

Loki cut him off, "Done nothing. Thor, the Chitauri were there for the soul purpose of killing us, Thanos wanted the Tesseract. Now that I have the Tesseract, and we are gone, they have no reason to linger there."

Thor was now in front of Loki, "What about Father?"

Loki wrinkled his nose in distaste, but answered anyway, "The most accomplished warriors in Asgard besides ourselves, had just walked in the door, if they cannot help Odin then he is as good as dead." He bowed his head and clutched at his side again.

"Why Midgard then?", Thor asked again.

Loki looked back at Thor and closed his eyes and took another breath through his teeth. "They did this to me and I was on their side, don't you think you should warn your friends?"

Thor frowned confused, "Why do you care?" He rubbed the large bump on his head from the Chitauri gun. "I don't understand, you tried to kill me twice during the invasion, but you nearly died defending me just now. "

Loki stared at him, saying nothing for a moment. "I wasn't trying to kill you."

Thor leaned over Loki, angry, clenching his fists, he raised his voice, "You threw me, from the moral flying fortress; you had no way to know I would escape the mortal cage." He slammed his fist against the rock face sending small pebbles raining down his head. "You plunged one of your knives into my gut. How is that not trying to kill me?"

Loki looked down. "The fall wouldn't have killed you."

Thor stepped closer, his hands trembling, thunder rolled overhead. "How do you know?" He ground his teeth. "You said the mortals think us immortal, should we test that? Then you stabbed Son of Coul, when he tried to defend me!"

Loki's voice lashed out like that of a wounded dog, "I killed those who opposed me Thor! I was trying to conquer the planet, what did you expect? But then you had to interfere as you always do, I had to take you out before the battle somehow. I've survived worse falls in the past; I knew that had I succeeded, you would have been rendered out of commission during the battle." He took in a shuddering breath. "But then you came to the battle anyway. So I tried again, I hardly expected a knife wound to kill you, but I should have known it wasn't going to be enough to take you out of the battle."

Thor had calmed slightly, and was now watching his brother carefully.

Loki frowned and closed his eyes leaning his head against the rock face. "I had expected the green beast to slink away after his mortal side came to his senses and saw the destruction he had caused. The Chitauri barely listened to me during the battle, going off and fighting their own way, doing what they thought was best. Every once in a while they might listen to me, but the best I could do was go out and fight myself. With all of the Avenger's focused on me, and the Chitauri hardly defending me, it was not long until you defeated me."

Loki's eyes glazed over and he stared past Thor looking out into the sky above. "Thanos wanted the Tesseract, he offered me a way out, dangled what I wanted most right in front of me. It was too good to be true; I wonder now if, had I been successful, would he have left the earth in my possession?"

Thor stood not knowing how to answer, and then Loki's withered hand shot to his right arm.

Thor spoke, "What is that device?" He pointed to the strange metal disc imbedded into Loki's arm.

Loki looked down at his right arm and frowned, "I do not know, it's… doing something to me."

"What do you mean?"

"It's-" Loki's whole frame shivered. "It's burning me."

Thor looked around, "We should leave and find help." He looked at Loki, "Couldn't you just take us to them?"

Loki shook his head, "I am spent. And I already told you Thor, the humans likely already know we are here. If you want them to come sooner, perhaps you should make _your_ presence a bit more obvious."

Thor's hand tightened on Mjolnir and he looked to the sky.

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"Directior Fury, energy around the small anomaly we picked up earlier has spiked. It's giving off the same energy signature as Thor's hammer."

Fury frowned down at the swirling data on the screen. He spoke under his breath "But Thor just went home not too long ago…"

The agent looked at him, "What do you want to do, Sir?"

"Ready a jet, and get Captain Rogers down here."

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Another chapter down, I told you the avengers would appear eventually. Stay tuned and don't forget to review!


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry for the slightly late update guys, I normally update every other day if I can, if not it's every three days. Any who, over fifty followers! Thank you again! Keep those reviews flowing! Hope you enjoy this chapter.

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The Helicarrier base was down for repairs. Steve had been on the Helicarrier for a meeting with Fury about his future working with S.H.E.I.L.D. Originally it had been planned to be a conference call over the Internet, but after a few requests and suggestions from Steve it was decided that he would visit the Helicarrier to speak with Director Fury in person and update his gear.

That was this afternoon. He'd been told the Director was extremely busy and he would see him as soon as possible. So Steve had browsed through the latest gear and walked through the length of the Helicarrier. Some agents had stopped by to show him how some of the 'new tech' worked, until an agent apologized and informed him, his meeting had been postponed until tomorrow.

So when an agent came in woke him in his temporary quarters for the night, and informed him the Director had requested his assistance, he was a bit surprised. The agent handed him a black lightly armored S.H.E.I.L.D. suit (his patriotic armor was still being repaired) and told him to suit up quickly, he would be waiting outside his room. When he asked what was wrong the agent responded he would be briefed on the way to his destination and that a jet was waiting for him.

Captain Rogers now stood holding a leather strap hanging on the ceiling of one of the Quinjets in front of a blank screen. His shield lay off to the side leaning against a seat. Two other S.H.E.I.L.D. agents flew the jet, but besides them he was alone. Director Fury's face appeared. Steve looked at him his eyebrows drawn together. He glanced around for a moment, looking for a microphone to speak into, not seeing one, he just spoke directly at the screen. "What's all this about Fury?"

The Director appeared to be in his office. His image leaned back in his chair, and massaged his temple above the eye patch, his one eye looked tiredly up at Steve. "I'm sorry Captain; the Chitauri left quite a mess behind."

Steve nodded, "I understand."

Fury smiled slightly, "That's the first time I've heard that today." He looked at Steve seriously. "The reason I need you is it looks like Thor's back. And if that's the case, I want someone he knows to meet him. No misunderstandings."

Steve frowned, "But he just left. And if he wanted to talk to us, why didn't he just fly over?"

Fury shook his head, "That's my problem. We picked up the anomaly not too long ago and shortly after energy matching Thor's hammer started brewing in the same spot. It's the same place where he took Loki after he broke into the Quinjet the first time. There are just too many things not making sense here. You're the closest Avenger I had available. I want you to talk to Thor and find out what's going on."

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Loki and Thor had waited in near silence. Trying to avoid his brothers unnerving, always changing eyes Thor had focused on his storm. The clouds he created had covered the moon above. He tilted his head upward listening to the thunder rumbling overhead, watching the brief flashes of lightening, but every once in a while his focus was diverted when he heard a brief hitch in his brother's rasping breaths. When Thor spotted the jet he let his storm dissipate.

The mortal plane slowly approached them and hovered for a moment. Thor shifted uncertainly, glancing at his brother. Loki lifted his head, glanced at the hovering plane for a moment, and then closed his eyes again. The hatch opened and a black garbed figure carrying a shield jumped down to meet them.

Recognizing the figure Thor sighed in relief, "My friend, it is good to see you. Where is your colorful armor?"

Steve looked at Thor then warily glanced at Loki leaning into the shadow of the cliff, "It's still being repaired. Thor, what's wrong? Why did you bring Loki back?"

"I did not bring Loki back. He brought me here. We are both injured and have much to talk about." Thor swept his gaze skyward, "May we move to a safer location?"

Steve's eyes landed on the dark blood on Thor's leg and he nodded, waving the Quinjet forward keeping his eyes on Loki's dark form. The plane lowered hovering above the ground its ramp folded downward inviting them in. Thor started forward, but Steve stopped him looking at Loki. "Thor-"

"My brother poses no threat to you at the moment, Captain."

Steve frowned. "Thor, he invaded New York after he surrendered last time."

Loki continued to lean silently on the rock face. Thor answered uncomfortable with the whole situation, "He has been defeated, he will not attack again." Steve watched Loki. He could see quite well, but he didn't have night vision, and Loki was already in the shadow of the cliff, he couldn't see the expression on the trickster's face. The Quinjet hovered open and waiting giving off a small amount of light.

Captain America spoke, "Loki, come into the light." The dark being didn't move. Steve thought for a moment, "Please." There was another moment of stillness save for the wind blowing around from the Quinjet, then the dark form straightened, pushed himself lightly away from the rock face and slowly walked forward his left hand grasping his right side. He stepped into the light.

The Captains eyes widened at the extent of his injures, but the dark warrior stared forward no emotion on his face. Steve spoke quickly, "Loki, I want your word, you will harm no one while you are here.

The trickster made eye contact, and his face turned mocking, "I am known as the God of Mischief and Lies, what good is my word to you?"

Captain America answered , "If it means so little to you, then you should have no problem giving it to me." Loki frowned at him. Steve looked back at the waiting Quinjet, then at fresh blood that was dripping down Loki's arm. "We should probably hurry, and that looks like it hurts, so if you would just give me your word we could leave."

Thor stood awkwardly off to the side; he couldn't really protest the Captains one reasonable request, so he simply watched. Loki continued to frown, then finally spoke.

"I will try not-"

Steve cut him off, "No." He continued to stare at Loki expectantly.

Loki's frown deepened, "I do not plan to-"

"No." Steve raised an eyebrow.

Loki's nostrils flared, he tried again, his voice thick with annoyance, "I will not purposefully harm or kill a human, while I am here unless provoked."

Steve's face broke into a genuine smile; he gave Loki a nod and moved aside. Loki sneered at him then made his way inside. Steve noted how his feet seemed to drag slightly as he made his way up the steel panels. Thor pasted him next, limping slightly, Steve followed behind him and his eyes fell on the gaping hole in Thor's armor. "Thor, your back…"

The ramp closed behind them, and after the pilots sent a few nervous glances at Loki they took off.

Thor turned around his face serious and answered him, "I know…Captain we must warn the other Avengers, we are all in danger."

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	9. Chapter 9

I love your reviews, not only are they awesome, but they make me update faster. Like always tell me what you think. Up to sixty followers! THANK YOU!

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The Chitauri Other had his head bowed to the floor on the Thanos's ship the Sanctuary II. Thanos was sitting on his hovering chair looking disgusted down at the cloaked creature.

"I did not allow you use of my technology, so you could waste resources on poorly thought failures." The Other flinched but stayed where he was, as Thanos stood, walking to the windows on the opposite side of the room.

"I did choose to give Loki your gift. However because of your device it is likely that Loki will be sent to death, before I am able to receive the Tesseract…this is inconvenient."

The Chitauri Other lifted his head slightly, and tried to speak carefully, his voice was accented with hissing like a snake, "There are other artifacts you can pursue, Master."

Thanos watched the angry clouds swirl across the surface of Saturn. He turned back and the Chitauri Other flinched again, as if he could feel the titan's eyes back on him. "No, not yet. This unfortunate situation can still be salvaged." The mad titan approached the Chitauri Other.

"Get up." The Other quickly got to his feet. Thanos circled around him. "I will assist you in destroying the Avengers." Thanos smiled, "Earth's mightiest heroes will make a fine tribute to my Lady Death."

The titans face suddenly turned ugly, he towered over the Chitauri Other, his eyes started to glow their bright devilish red. The Other shrunk back nearly falling back to the floor. "Between your and Loki's failures, I warn you, if you fail me again, your fate will be no better than his." His eyes dimmed, "You've left me little to work with, since I had to pull what remained of your soldiers away from your failed exploit on Asgard, it will take my ship's generator a few days to recover." The mad titan drifted back to the windows. "In the meantime I suggest you repair your soldiers, I'll soon have another talk with the Trickster."

The Other hesitantly spoke again, "Master, if the mites have been activated, it is unlikely he will be capable of speech."

"He will speak to me.", Thanos snapped. "Now get out."

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Steve frowned, as he wrapped a bandage from the first aid kit on the wall, around Thor's leg. He didn't have anything to help with his back. Thor had shrugged flinching slightly, saying his armor had taken most of it. After refusing to be touched or strapped in, Loki was sitting in the seat that his shield had been leaning against earlier, eyes closed. Thor had protested, and insisted that his brother let himself be examined, but after one bone chilling glare from Loki, Thor fell silent.

Steve had just sent a brief message to Fury warning him to gather the other Avengers and that Thor and Loki were both in the jet with him. Fury had given orders for the jet to be redirected to an underground base on the coast. Thor was describing how Asgard had been attacked until the moment he had been shot down. When Thor stopped talking and started to rub a bump on his head, Steve cut in, "How was there even Chitauri left standing to invade Asgard after the explosion? After the missle hit their ship the Chitauri on the ground here just collapsed." The Captain stood having finished the bandaging.

Thor continued to rub the bump on his head. "I do not know." Thor reluctantly looked to his brother. "I do not know who is this new Villain is either, he was not there until I awoke."

Loki spoke not opening his eyes, "His name is Thanos, he hails from a moon in your solar system, orbiting the planet you call Saturn. He implied that the small force that was attacking Asgard was created just before the explosion, if that is what happened then their minds would not yet be fully integrated into their group intelligence on their ship."

Steven answered trying to process that information, "So that means…"

Loki eyes opened tiredly and he answered sounding exasperated, "It means if they outran the explosion, which they obviously did, the destruction of the main ship would not have been fatal to them. That is how 'Chitauri were left standing to invade Asgard.'"

Seeing how Loki was in the mood of answering questions, Steve pressed on, "Why was Thanos there?"

Loki's voice turned monotone, "He wanted the Tesseract."

"Where is the Tesseract now?"

Loki gave him a devious smirk, "I have it." After seeing the look on the Captains face, he gave an amused laugh that was cut off by a round of coughing. "Fear not Captain. I no longer have the resources to conquer your planet."

Captain America looked at him warily, "That doesn't make me feel better."

Loki answered closing his eyes again, but Steve couldn't tell if he was being serious or not, "I do not intend to harm anyone." He chuckled. "I did give you my word after all."

"Why not? You didn't seem to have a problem with it before."

The smirk left his face, "Perhaps, given my current options, I am choosing the side I would rather win."

"You're not going to give us the Tesseract are you?"

"No, I'm not."

Thor spoke, "Loki…"

Loki lazily turned his head to him, "They have no safer place to put it. If I die, the Tesseract goes with me."

Thor reached toward his bloody arm, "Loki, let us help you."

Loki leaned away from Thor's hand blinking, "No."

Steve stepped forward, "You can hardly keep your eyes open."

Loki's eyes narrowed at him,"Interdimensional travel does that to you."

Steve looked at Loki's most obvious injury, his bloody right arm, "What is that device?"

Loki continued to watch Thor's outstretched hand like it was a striking snake, then he glanced at the Captain. "I don't know what it is. It's Chitauri make."

"Loki, please." Thor reached out again.

"Thor, I do not-"The tips of Thor's fingers brushed against the silver disc and Loki went rigid.

Seeing the motion Thor snatched his hand away. "Loki?"

The armrest under Loki's left hand made a crunching noise, Steve looked down and saw it was being crushed in Loki's grip. He looked back at the dark haired man's face. Loki's tired eyes were now wide and his jaw was clenched tightly shut. Then another disturbing change occurred as Steve watched Loki's veins around the device turned a black color. The black spidering lines spread over his exposed shoulder and under his collar then stopped just below his jawline on his neck. Steve watched black lines spread out from where his armor ended at his wrist to his limp right hand.

Thor fell to his knees beside him horrified, "Brother?"

Loki threw his head backward and uttered an inhuman wail.

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Oh dear, things don't look like they're looking up for Loki do they? Review, review, review.


	10. Chapter 10

Sorry guys for the late update. Got a bit distracted by the Olympics. I'll be a good girl from now on...maybe. Anyway this chapter was so long I decided to cut it into two. So that was this chapter and the chapter I'll post tomorrow. I hope you enjoy. I am loving all these reviews and followers by the way.

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Tony Stark sat in the back of a standard S.H.E.I.L.D. vehicle, contemplating. His 'suit case' was cradled in-between him and Banner who sat in the seat beside him, looking like he was trying to melt into the seat. Early that morning he had reluctantly answered his phone after the fourth ring and a slight insistence from Jarvis. Having spent the night with Pepper he was almost sober when he answered. "You used your Stark coupon last week Fury."

"I have agents waiting for you outside your Tower; I need you and Banner to come down immediately."

"Fury, I'm still playing fifty-two pick up from last time you called." Tony whined.

"Stark, I'm serious; there's been another Chitauri attack."

That woke him up, "Where?"

"Asgard. We need you at a base."

And so Tony and Bruce had taken a jet to a small landing site somewhere (he'd been extremely annoyed when the unnamed S.H.E.I.L.D. agents had confiscated his phone for no apparent reason) , and were now driving to …somewhere else. After he'd asked are we there yet, for the third time, the window between the front and back seats came up leaving just him and Banner to talk.

He spoke interrupting Banner's fidgeting, "So what do you think the green eyed dragon did now?"

Bruce looked up from the car floor, "What? Oh, I don't know. We put those cuffs on him before they left. Things must have gone pretty bad if Thor's back."

Tony shifted in his seat, "Kinda wish Natasha or Hawkeye abducted us instead. These guys are no fun at all."

"They're just doing their job Tony."

Tony frowned at some dark memory, "They could still lighten up."

Banner gave a small shrug, then leaded forward in his seat listening. "I think we're almost there."

Tony looked at him, "How do you know?" A distant rumble of thunder answered his question. "Well, that doesn't mean it's Thor." Another louder rumble contradicted him.

Another five minutes and they did arrive. At a small fenced in nook in the hillside, pretty anticlimactic considering how long it took to get there. But the dark angry looking clouds circling overhead did not bode well. The stone faced agents from the car escorted them inside and naturally the compound was quite larger then it appeared on the surface.

The agents led them through the anthill, down, left, right, then right again. Other agents sent them curious glances as they passed by. Banner seemed intent on not tripping over his own feet, while Tony was trying his hardest to get a response other than a slight glance from passing agents, swinging his 'suit case' at his side. Finally they were approaching a door that was slightly ajar. Their two agent escort ushered them in, while they moved on.

The small rectangular room had been given a large metal table, making Tony wonder how they got it through the doorway in the first place. Nick Fury was sitting on the far side of the table his head in his hand, and his back to a large window that covered the entire back wall. Thor's hammer was on table, while the demigod himself was pacing, with a slight limp, restlessly back and forth on the same side of the room, wearing a borrowed black shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Steve was in a black S.H.E.I.L.D. uniform and was telling him, working himself up wasn't going to help anybody.

Natasha had taken station beside a disgruntled Hawkeye, who was sitting in a metal chair borrowed from the table, in the corner of the room, across the door. She watched Stark come in, Banner shadowing right behind him. Curious to his reaction, she watched him take in the room. She wondered how much arguing was going to take place this time around, since the scientific duo was now present. Tony's eyes scanned the other side of the room briefly, and he met Natasha's gaze for a moment.

Then his eyes fell on the window. The window, Natasha knew was a one way mirror. Thor had adamantly refused to have his brother out of his sight; Director Fury was hard pressed to find a way for Thor to be near Loki without worsening his brother's condition.

Starks mouth hung open as he saw the god of mischief lying on a surgical table, he was covered up to his shoulders with a white sheet, and surrounded by medical equipment. A fine sheen of sweat was on his gray face as he stared at the ceiling above. His lips seemed to be moving slightly, as if he was talking to some unknown entity.

"Holy cow, he died and came back to haunt us."

Thor stopped his pacing and turned, having heard Starks voice, tension in his shoulders visibly relaxed as he met Starks gaze. "Man of Iron! I am glad you have come!"

Steve's hand came down on his shoulder. "Thor, we don't know if he can help yet."

Thor opened his mouth to speak again, but Fury stood and made his way around the metal table.

"Banner, Stark now that you're here, you can see we have a problem."

Stark looked away from the window, "Whoa, whoa, when you said Asgard was attacked, I thought-"

Thor immediately interrupted, "My brother had no hand in the Chitauri attack on Asgard."

Fury started again, not acknowledging that last statement, talking only to Banner and Stark, "The Chitauri and a being called Thanos have issued a threat against all of you, as well as Loki."

Tony frowned, "Wait, what did we do to this Thanos guy?"

Natasha filled in, "We don't know. All we know is what Thor has been able to guess based on the attack on Asgard and what Loki has told us…when he's been coherent."

Bruce walked forward, squinting through the glass, "What happened to him?"

"Why are we listening to him?" Tony said sounding confused.

Hawkeyes looked up from the spot on the floor he had been staring at, "That's what I would like to know."

Fury turned his head to the Archer. "Agent Barton." He said his tone warning. He turned back Stark and Banner. "According to Thor, Chitauri appeared out of the air in their throne room, and overwhelmed them. Thor's Father had the Tesseract at the time and was injured, I suppose rather than give the Tesseract to the Chitauri, he gave it to Loki. Thor got knocked out. During which time, they must have put the device that is responsible for Loki's current condition into his arm. When Thor woke up, Loki was preventing him from getting fried by Thanos who had just decided to join the party." Fury pulled two twisted bits of metal from his pocket, and set them on the table. "The cuffs you two provided him earlier were fairly effective, but must have got fried when Thanos was attacking. When Loki had the chance he took Thor and escaped." Fury turned to Thor and Steve raising his eyebrows. "Is that everything?"

Thor nodded quickly, and Steve said, "Basically."

Banner looked at Fury, "So you have the Tesseract now, right?"

Fury replied annoyed, "No, Loki has it in his magic pocket or whatever it is." Thor looked sheepish, as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

Tony walked to the window to stand next to Bruce, "OK… So what do you want us to do? Are we just gonna wait for an Alien vs Predator match or what?

Thor stepped forward, "You need to help my brother."

"What?",Stark turned abruptly, stubbing his foot on one of the metal chairs around the table and letting loose a stream of obscenities under his breath.

Natasha picked up where Fury left off, "Fury had doctors operate to remove the disk shaped device that had been twisted into Loki's upper right arm as soon as he arrived. His system burned through the drugs they gave him so fast, they hardly had enough time to close the wound before he woke up."

Stark spoke quickly, "Get to the point, why does he need my help?"

Fury spoke again clasping his hands behind his back, "Because the device was filled to the brim with miniature machines that are swimming around his bloodstream creating toxins that are going to cause his body to shut down, within the next few days."

"Oh."

"I already have agents working on it, but progress is not being made fast enough. At this rate unless you two think of something, he's going to die."

"And why don't we just let him die?" Clint stood from his chair in the corner, fists clenched at his side, knuckles white, as he thought about the fate of the god of mischief trembling on the table, a glass panel away.

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	11. Chapter 11

Here you go, another chapter for you! And by the way this is the first fan fiction I have ever written, and the only familiarity I have with the comics is through the Marvel cinematic universe and Wikipedia. Thank you all for your wonderful reviews more to come!

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Fury barked, "Barton!"

Clint threw his hands in the air, "Oh come on Fury! After everything he's done, he's dangerous, the only reason he hasn't tried to kill any of us yet is he can hardly move, don't tell me you haven't thought of the same thing!"

Natasha grabbed his arm, whispering for him to stop, but he shook her off. There was silence for a moment as Thor walked forward, and everyone registered that the hairs on the back their necks had stood up. Mjolnir was still on the metal table, but everyone could feel the static in the air. Tony took an obvious step away from Clint, and swore again under his breath, when his fingers got shocked, while brushing the metal table. Banner backed up to the window.

Thor spoke his voice dangerously low, "Your anger towards my brother clouds your judgment."

Not backing down, Clint shot back "And the fact that he's your brother clouds yours! Look I'm sorry he is your brother, but Thor you of all people know what he's done!"

"He brought me here so I could warn all of you!" Thor yelled.

"Did he? Or is he hiding behind us, hoping we get caught in the crossfire. If he dies, we have to die with him is that it?

"The Chitauri want to kill us, as well as Loki!",Thor said clenching his fists.

"Based on what Loki told you!" Clint spat.

Natasha grabbed his arm and held fast, "Hawkeye our record isn't the cleanest either."

Clint tried to shake her off again bringing his clenched fist toward his chest, but she held on staring him down. Clint snapped, "We didn't help try to take over the planet!" His voice turned mocking, "Oh wait, yes I did!"

Thor's hands were trembling at his sides, while Clint was still occasionally trying to twist out of the Black Widow's grip. Steven stepped forward, "Clint you need to step outside."

Thor ignored the Captain, "Loki hadn't been in his right mind."

Clint continued despite the Captain's warning "He was trying to kill us last week, and what, he's suddenly good now? How do we know he even kept the Tesseract, we haven't seen it, he could have gave it away while you were unconscious! Can't you consider he's just too far-"

Thor threw his arm toward the glass, his voice booming, "LOOK AT HIM!"

Clint (as well as everyone else in the room) flinched; he was broken out of his own rage for just a moment, at the sheer volume of Thor's voice and reluctantly did exactly as he was told. Loki was still under the white sheet the doctors had put on him, only the left side of his gray face was visible as the dark haired man had his head tilted all the way back, eyes open staring at nothing, his mouth moving slightly.

Thor continued, "Does he look the scheming villain at this moment!? Does he look as if this was all part of his plan?"

Tony carefully stepped forward, "Thor, I'm not saying I agree with bird brain, but he does have a point, how do you know Loki isn't lying his face off?"

Thor turned angrily to Tony but after seeing his calm face he took a breath to calm himself. "Before I ever came to earth Loki and I had lived and fought together as brothers for longer than any of your lives put together. I do not know my brother's thoughts. He changed while I was banished here. After the Bifrost was destroyed, and he fell, everyone thought he was dead. The version of Loki you have seen is unknown to me, but when we were fighting I saw him waver. I do not know what has happened to him since the Bifrost, but I cannot ignore the fact that he has saved my life twice in the last day at his own expense. I am not about to abandon him now."

Steve put his hand back on Thor's shoulder, "Tony, Bruce are you going to help or not?"

Banner nodded, "Yes."

Tony was nodding too, "I'll give it a shot."

Fury pinched the bridge of his nose, "Well now that you've gotten that off your chests, Agent Romanoff, find a place for Agent Barton to cool off. I want to see you both in my office in an hour." Natasha tugged an angry Clint out the door after sending what might have been an apologetic glance toward Thor. "Captain Rogers, I assume you're staying here with Thor?" Steve nodded. Fury continued "Alright, Stark, Banner follow me."

* * *

A gloating voice brought Loki back to slight awareness and the burning feeling that was taking place throughout his body, "You could have given the Tesseract to me. You could still give the Tesseract to me. I could make your pain end." Loki made the effort of moving his eyes round the room; no one was there, just the white walls, mortal machines, and the mirror. The cogs of his mind worked slowly for a moment. And he made his lips move; his voice came out as a whisper.

"What fun would there be in that?"

The mad titan's voice rang in his mind again, "The Chitauri are on their way, you would do well to submit now."

Loki opened his eyes having not noticed them close, "Your threats hold no sway for me anymore. There is nothing more you can do to me."

The Titan voice rang again, "I will break you."

Loki blinked, "I am already broken. You've ravaged my home, you're killing my body, and according to everyone else, I had already gone mad. There is nothing more you can do to me."

"I can kill your brother."

Loki had to take a moment to clear the blackness at the edges of his vision, "You will not catch him unprepared a second time. He did not take kindly to your attack on Asgard. And I am curtain your already small force was damaged. I hope I live long enough to see you fail."

The voice was silent for a moment, "We shall see how empty my threats are soon enough, when you are writhing on the ground at my feet."

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Review!


	12. Chapter 12

Here I am! Thank you for waiting. ONE HUNDRED FOLLOWERS. :D And so the story continues, don't forget to review! Enjoy.

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Thor was left sitting alone at the metal table. Steve left a moment ago, promising to return after an agent had come in requesting him to follow. So Thor was left to himself, as he continued to try to understand Loki's actions.

"_Look at you… the mighty Thor. For all your strength, and what good does it do you now, huh!? Do you hear me, brother? There is nothing you can do!"_

Thor watched his distorted reflection on the metal table's surface. The words rang true now as he sat useless, as Loki lay dying in the next room. Asgard had been attacked, and now he could do nothing. He had failed to protect his father, his brother. He closed his eyes as another memory surfaced.

_His hand tightened a death grip on the golden shaft, he barred his teeth as Loki's weight was being pulled downward by the swirling blackness below. Loki met his gaze for a moment and looked away. He looked upward at Odin, his eyes searching, as he gripped the other side of the spear. "I could have done it father! I could have done it!" His hand shook the shaft. "For you! For all of us!"_

_Thor heard his father's voice answer behind him whispering, "No, Loki." _

_Loki's face tightened, eyes glistening; Thor felt his brother's grip shift on the spear. It dawned on him what was about to happen. "Loki, no…" His brother let go of their father's spear. He watched his __brother sink into the twisting chaos, turning away from them, he had yelled after him, able to do nothing._

He stood from the metal chair, glancing at Loki's sleeping form through the glass, as guilt flooded over him. The memories continued to flood thick and fast. He started to pace.

_At Jotunheim, after his failed coordination, Loki had spoken reasonably in his ear. "Thor…stop and think, look around you, we're outnumbered."_

"_Know your place, brother."_

_Another memory, when he had first confronted Loki on the Mountain Top. The one moment any true emotion seemed to come across his face. "I remember a shadow. Living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss."_

He collapsed back into the chair, slamming his fist down, denting the metal table. He looked at his broken brother again. How had such small actions lead to this? How had mere words and a single lie rent Loki so deeply?

* * *

Natasha had successfully dragged him into the small room that served as Fury's temporary office at their current base. Barton frowned down at the desk, as the Widow stood at attention behind him.

Fury sighed leaning back in his chair. "Agent Barton, you aren't planning on doing anything else stupid today, are you? I thought you had a bit more tact then that."

Clint looked him in the eye, "Not my fault no one's looking at the obvious."

Fury raised an eyebrow, "Barton, you know I'm not stupid enough to forget who tried to take over the world last Tuesday." Clint rubbed the back of his neck almost guilty. "I need you to stop being a hothead and get it together. I'm lucky Thor didn't decide to punch you into next week."

"I would have dodged it." Natasha elbowed him. "Ow." Clint rubbed his shoulder glaring at the Widow, then he turned back to Fury. "So… you agree with me. You think I'm right." he said.

Fury frowned at him, "No, I think you're an idiot for asking the only friendly otherworldly being we know, why we didn't just kill his brother."

Clint continued fighting his losing battle, "You could at least restrain him or something. "

Fury shook his head, "After we sawed off the cuffs that were melted on Loki's wrists, from when he left, Thor refused to let us put anything of that nature on him again. Seeing as Loki can hardly move at the moment anyway, I'm willing to deal with that later." There was silence for a moment. "Look Barton, If Loki tries to blow anything else up; you have my full permission to shoot him to kingdom come. But until then, since he claims he doesn't want to kill us, we are going to work on putting him back together again. " He turned to Natasha. "Agent Romanoff, you're on babysitting duty, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

Natasha nodded breaking a slight smile. "Yes sir."

Clint glared at her mumbling, "Traitor."

Fury ignored that one, "Now whether Loki is telling the truth or not, it's obvious the Chitauri aren't his best buddies anymore. I chose this particular base, because there are no cities or towns to obliterate in the immediate area. I need both of your eyes peeled. I want all of the Avengers near Loki in case of an attack; I'll relocate Stark and Banner closer to you shortly. I'm setting up the wing Loki's currently in for all of you."

Steve walked in with an agent with long brunet hair. "Director."

"Captain Rodgers, I need you to try to talk to Loki again before he gets any worse. Try to find out why this new guy wants to kill all of you. And what the Chitauri's current capabilities are, and since the Chitauri haven't materialized to kill us yet, maybe a time table of when we might expect them."

"Sir, I don't think-"

Fury motioned toward the agent standing beside Steve. "Agent Kelly has a syringe full of medication that should wake him up enough for you to question him, if you make it quick."

Steve frowned slightly, "What about Thor?"

Fury shrugged, "We aren't trying to hurt Loki, just let him know what we're doing, and he should have no problem with it." He stood from his chair. "I'll stop by for a report in a few hours." He said clearly dismissing everyone.

Steve turned to leave. Hawkeye piped up behind him, "I'm coming with you." Natasha let out a quiet exasperated sigh at Clint's side. He turned to her for a moment. "What? I didn't say I was gonna shoot him!" They separated from Fury walking down the hall, Steve in the lead, Agent Kelly walking beside him while Clint and Natasha followed behind. Clint continued walking forward his thoughts on the verge of mutinous. "Yet…" he said under his breath.

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Review!


	13. Chapter 13

Thank you so much for your continued support. I'm not writing at a snail's pace on purpose, had a creative slump couldn't not seem to get a chapter out, so basically I have no excuse. Nope scratch that I'm going to blame Thor, yep its Thor's fault. No more questions. But seriously I am going to finish this story, it may take me a while to update sometimes, but I will finish it. Your comments make me feel warm and fuzzy so without further stalling the story continues.

* * *

Thor had just donned his roughly patched armor. The Shield agents had quickly replaced the ruined stiff leather backing with a material he was not familiar with. The relatively short man that had delivered it had apologized saying his cape couldn't be salvaged; however as the small man spoke his eyes kept darting back to the obvious dent that Thor had recently pounded into the metal table. Perhaps Thor had been in a worst mood then he had previously thought, because the small man flinched when he glanced up from the table and reached out for the newly repaired armor.

Thor was now standing in front of the window. He had thought he'd seen movement in the corner of his eye and had been staring intently inside the room the white medical room. His brother had fallen into a fitful state of sleep, and was twitching on the plain bed S.H.I.E.L.D. had provided. Thor turned at the sound of people approaching, the Captain had returned with Natasha, Clint, and a third S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

He glowered at the Archer as he shuffled in behind the others. After seeing that Thor was staring at him his eyes flicked away, suddenly interested in observing the room. Thor blinked as he realized Steve was trying to address him. "Thor, Director Fury wants us to try to talk to Loki."

Thor's eye brows furrowed, "He is too unwell to be awoken." Thor looked to the unknown female agent as she stepped forward holding up a syringe.

"This contains medication that should wake him up enough to speak to him for a while."

Thor spoke looking back to the Captain his voice disapproving, "What do you expect to gain from this? " Thor's tone did not seem to leave much room for argument, and at that particular moment Steve had paused noticing the new dent on the table.

Natasha stepped forward and spoke, "Loki hasn't been very forthcoming with information until you returned with him, and out of all of us he seems to know the most about what's happening. If we are going to defend him then we need to know what's coming. The best way to do that is to try to talk to him before he gets any worse."

Steve sent her a grateful glance before looking back to the stormy Avenger, "Thor you'll be there, right beside him while we're talking." Thor's expression softened slightly, but he still looked unhappy as he glanced through the window behind him.

Clint shrugged behind the Captain, "He can't get much worse." He said bluntly. Thor sent a dark expression his way and Clint threw his hands up in surrender. "Just stating a fact."

The female agent cleared her throat, "We should act as soon as possible." Thor's gaze lingered on the Archer for a moment, before giving a nod of assent toward the female agent and the Captain. "Very well, if you can bring my brother to his senses we will speak with him."

They all exited to the hallway, only leaving Mjolnir in the room, and awkwardly waited to file into the next room. Steve watched Thor with concern as he waited, looking slightly agitated, as Agent Kelly entered the passcode for the room. "Thor, are you alright?"

Thor answered distracted, pushing forward closer to the door as the lock clicked. "I am healing well Captain." Steve made a mental note to question Thor later, ask about why he dented the table… Agent Kelly opened the door and they all followed her in. Thor took station next to his brother's head immediately. Steve calmly walked over to stand next to Thor at the trickster's feet. Clint, Natasha, and Agent Kelly stood on Loki's other side.

Agent Kelly pulled back the sheet and started examine Loki's right arm. Steve watched as Loki twitched in his sleep. It was so strange, seeing the super villain in a hospital gown. When his eyes had been open earlier and he had hardly moved, but now that he was as asleep his muscles looked like they wanted to jump from beneath his dead looking gray skin. "Why aren't his veins black anymore?"

Agent Kelly continued cautiously prodding at the arm. "The toxin spread to the rest of the body. It was so concentrated to his right arm, if he lives through this there might be permanent damage."

Thor shook head, "If you can find a way to release this plague from him, I believe his body will heal itself given enough time. " The Agent glanced up at him saying nothing. She pulled out the syringe from her belt again; she circled around to Loki's left arm causing Thor to move back slightly and held the syringe at the ready.

She alternated her eyes around the group, "We don't know how long this will last, and anything else we've given him has worn off almost immediately. The ingredients here are super concentrated for the desired effect." She looked at Steve. "You might have ten minutes."

Steve nodded "Go ahead." Agent Kelly slid the nettle into the god's upper left arm.

* * *

Loki blinked trying to focus his eyes. He couldn't think. Everything hurt. His limbs didn't seem to want to respond to him when he tried to move, so he focused on the dark shapes around him. He grunted as something dug into his side.

"This one's still alive."

The beings slowly came to focus in his vision; a Chitauri looked down at him. A golden armored Aesir was standing in the shadows nearby with his back to him, a gleam of gold giving him away. The Aesir warrior turned and walked toward him coming into the bleak light of the rocky scape around them. The Aesir's face soon became recognizable in the light. Loki looked in confusion, he was staring at himself.

The other Loki looked down at him in disgust. His own smooth voice was cold as it came from the other Loki. "Dispose of it how you will."

_That's not me…_ The Chitauri's claws latched onto his wrist. Unable to move, Loki recoiled in revulsion as he realized his skin was that of a frost giant's. _This isn't me…_ The Chitauri started roughly dragging him away as if he was a dead carcass. Rocks dug into his various wounds as he was dragged. His vision occasionally failed him they continued. He was eventually deposited on a stone slab. His vision blurred for a moment as he once again attempted to regain his sight.

Finally the object in front of him finally came into focus. Had he been able to move, he would have thrown himself backward. The clouded eyes of Thor's corpse were staring at him just feet away. _No…_ Loki's mind tried to work. _This didn't happen_. Beyond his once brother's body the area was filled with the slabs of stone all filled with other corpses. Loki recognized several Avengers in the throng. Six Chitauri encircled the corpse of the Hulk. The body of the Archer lay farther away, his face contorted in rage even in death. Another Chitauri suddenly stepped in front of his line of sight, sharp instruments in each claw. The normally emotionless mask that was Loki's face betrayed him, he felt his eyes widen and the creature chittered out the equivalent to a laugh. The creature's garbled voice reached his ears as the instrument crept closer to his arm. "Your turn."

His pain became more defined as the sharp instrument met his skin. His mind was slowly coming back to him. He fought to make his limbs respond to him. Sharp laughter filled his mind. The mad titan's voice reached him, "There will be no rest for you."

* * *

Agent Kelly removed the nettle. Steve looked watched Loki's face contort slightly, "How long until he wakes up?"

The Agent answered, "I'm not-" Loki's body started thrashing. Thor quickly lunged forward to hold the trickster down, shoving Agent Kelly to the side; his hands came down like iron on Loki's shoulders. Steve threw his weight down on the trickster's kicking legs. Natasha and Clint had both jumped back drawing weapons.

"Loki? Loki!" Thor bellowed shaking his brother's shoulders. Loki continued thrashing, but his eyes flew open. They showed panic as they darted around the room but seemed to see nothing. Thor yelled toward the Agent. "What have you done?"

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Had to put something creepy in chapter thirteen. Review! Is it good? Is is bad? Do tell. Remember I read every review. What happens depends on your reactions.


	14. Chapter 14

This chapter was a bit longer than I wanted it to be, oh well I hope you don't mind. Thank you for being so patient and waiting, here we go!

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Tony looked up from the microscope. The hairs on his arms were standing up, and he felt… weird. He looked behind him at Bruce working on the other side of the room. The other scientist was holding a test tube up to a light, oblivious to anything else as he focused on his task. He looked back in front of him. The air looked strange, like heat coming off a car hood.

"What the-" Yep, he definitely felt weird now. He slowly swiped his hand through the distorted air in front of him as if to catch a floating cobweb but nothing happened. A shiver ran down his spine, when he recognized the feeling, it felt like someone was standing over him. Tony's eyes traveled toward his 'suit case' sitting in the corner of the lab.

Bruce's voice came from behind him, "Uhhh, Tony I have something. It's not good."

The air reacted slightly to Bruce's voice, it seemed to grow, curious, pulsing with the sound. Tony glanced over half turning toward Bruce in order to keep whatever it was in his sight. "I'm thinking I have something worse."

Banner continued still facing away from Tony, "The machines are adjusting the toxin depending on what we give him. That's why nothing they were giving him was working, it's not Loki, it's the toxin. The change isn't instant, but anything we give him is being converted to add to the poison that's already in his system."

"Bruce." Tony said his tone urgent.

There was a clank as Banner gently set the vial down in a rack on the table, and walked over.

"What's wrong?"

"Just stand over here for a second."

Tony looked at Bruce expectantly, while the other scientist just looked back at him confused for a moment. Then Bruce looked from Tony to the microscope, and then his eyes slowly drifted up from the counter to the air above them. His eyes narrowed at the mass. "What is that?"

Tony and Bruce watched it hovering just above their heads, "I don't know, but something tells me it's not Casper the friendly ghost." The gamma scientist raised his hands up to shield himself when the mass advanced toward his face.

Banner stumbled backwards a several paces. "Woah…" He flashed a glance behind him to make sure he didn't trip, then returned his gaze to the air mass. "Tony…." He was running out of room to back up.

"Hang on buddy." Tony ran to his suit case, picking it up the there was a familiar whirling and metallic clicking as the case expanded from a chest plate working its way down his limbs and encasing his face. The familiar voice of his A.I., Jarvis sounded in his ears. "Good evening Sir."

"Jarvis scan that haze, and tell me if I have anything that can hit it."

"Unidentifiable energy cloud, engaging ill-advised." The haze surrounded the gamma scientist's head leaving him not much choice, but to swat at it like an angry swarm of bees. The haze changed from clear distortion to a tinted red. The gamma scientist's hands flew to his head and he cried out in pain.

"Bruce!" Tony ran forward and threw his armored hands through the haze. Not knowing what else he could do without hurting Bruce, he was just trying to disrupt it somehow. Suddenly the haze faded leaving him trying to cut through normal air, he stopped. "Bruce, you ok buddy?" The other scientist lifted his head meeting his gaze with neon green eyes, a grimace on his face. Tony backed up a pace, "…buddy?"

* * *

Loki was slowly being brought back to awareness. His ears were ringing. The dull pain from his dream was getting more defined. It came in throbbing waves washing over him, threatening to take him back to the mad Titan's nightmare land. No he was not going back; he needed his mind to be his own. He thrashed, reveling in the ability of being able to resist against whatever was holding him down. Why couldn't he think? Focus was slipping through his fingers as he tried to pull together coherent thoughts. Something shook him; he could feel pressure on his shoulders and legs.

Had the Chitauri captured him? Where was he…. In that panicked moment he found his eyes and opened them, but he could not see anything, he closed his eyes again. His mind reeled. He thrashed harder, but he was tiring quickly. His hearing came back with a pop. He froze, flinching against the cool surface of the table as a familiar bellow echoed in the room. "What have you done!?"

Footsteps, a female voice answered shaky, "I didn't… he shouldn't have reacted this way… He shouldn't be able…"

"Thor." Another voice Loki recognized said urgently. The Soldier… Loki blinked open his eyes again as comprehension finally slammed into him full force. He was being held in a Shield facility, Thor, the disk, Thanos, it all flooded back to him. Was he that injured that he couldn't think properly? Or was it Thanos' influence that had briefly slowed his mind… The hold on his shoulders tightened slightly.

Thor's voice reached his ears, "Loki."

The Soldier spoke, "Loki, can you hear us?"

"I-" Loki's voice croaked in his chest and he immediately turned and started coughing. He tried again breathless, "I cannot see." He strained his eyes, but continued to only see darkness.

* * *

Thor glared as Agent Kelly stepped forward, she looked at him apologetically, "I just want to examine his eyes." She started forward again, Loki didn't react as she reached toward his face. "Loki I'm just going to-"

"I said I was blind, not that I was deaf." He snapped looking in her direction. She scowled at him, he flinched, but didn't protest as she moved his face to look at her. Thor had loosened his grip but he still had a worried hold on Loki's uninjured shoulder. The Agent let go and Steve who had also released his hold on the Trickster, watched as Loki's straightened letting his eyes drift to the ceiling. The Asgardian was trembling slightly; a light colored haze covered his eyes. He wasn't lying.

The agent stepped back and shook her head, "His eyes weren't like that before he fell asleep." Loki frowned blinking at the ceiling.

Steve decided it was now or never. "Loki, we're trying to help you, Stark and Banner are working on cure for you as we speak. You said you were on our side, what do you know about the Chitauri's current capabilities?"

Loki blinked at the ceiling again, then turned to Thor, "Thor, let go of me." The brother let his hand drop to his side unsure.

Hawkeye had lowered his gun, "If your blind how did you know it was Thor?" Loki turned his head toward the newest voice, smiling sticky sweet at him.

"Because he let go…who else would it be?" Loki looked in the Captains general direction, "Who else is in the room?"

The Black Widow spoke quietly her hand above her gun holster, "Only me."

"Only you." Loki scoffed quietly to himself, echoing her. He addressed the Captain again, "What did they do to me?" He asked sounding more curious then angry.

"Answer my questions first. What do you know?"

Loki sighed closing his eyes, "I know they are on their way. I can hardly know what they are capable of, given the fact that I don't know exactly how many resources they have salvaged since you destroyed their ship."

Steve spoke, "How long until they get here?" There was something off about Loki's expression. His face, normally an amused mask, now carried a certain fearful edge, a crack in the facade. Any confidence the trickster had exhibited before was now gone.

"Days, hours. I do not know." Loki rasped. "With their biotechnology it will not be long before whatever force they have left is fit for battle.

Hawkeye's finger's danced on the hilt of the gun at his hip, "How did you know they were on their way?

Loki shuttered and gripped at his side, his eyes rolled back into his head for a moment. He ground his teeth, then let out a breath and spoke, "Because…Thanos has more influence on me then I had realized…." A manic chuckle escaped him. "He is projecting his consciousness here so he can…taunt me." Thor's fists balled up at his sides, his jaw clenched and unclenched.

A chill ran down Steve's spine he spoke quietly to himself, "How is that possible?"

Loki reasoned quietly to himself looking less lucid then before, "I can be in two places at once, why can't he?"

Natasha addressed the trembling god next, "Could he be influencing anyone else?" Loki was staring off into the space above Thor's head, his foggy eyes unfocused; he didn't seem to hear her.

Thor gripped his shoulder again, concern marking his tone, "Loki, you need to focus." That seemed to strike a chord, reason returned to Loki's eyes for a moment, and his bandaged left hand shot out from under the bed sheet and latched onto Thor's arm. Everyone else cringed backward at the sudden movement, hands on their weapons.

His sightless gaze drilled straight into Thor. "Do not let me fall back asleep.", he said almost pleading. He held on for a moment before the intensity left his gaze, his eyelids drooped. His hand dropped back down to the bed, finally his eyes drifted back to the ceiling. Thor looked down at his deteriorating brother looking completely lost.

Natasha glanced at Thor before asking again, trying to get Loki's attention, "Loki, could Thanos be influencing anyone else?"

Loki replied closing his eyes, sounding dazed, "Yes…"

Clint sent Natasha a look, clearly Loki wasn't going to be conscious much longer, "Why does Thanos want to kill us?"

Loki answered sounding confused looking at the ceiling again, "Because that is what he does."

Steve frowned, "What do you mean?"

"He offers his victims to death." Loki replied as if it were obvious.

Clint shook his head, "This is useless, he's losing it." Everyone in the room jumped at the distant sound of a familiar roar, except for Loki, who frowned at the ceiling tilting his head toward the sound, "That's interesting."

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Hope you guys don't mind my crazed Loki. I didn't want to unleash the Hulk so soon but then I made him mad and this happened. Stay tuned more to come. Review!


	15. Chapter 15

Ah, my wonderful patient readers! Another chapter for you! Tell me if you think it's awesome or your confused! And so the story continues!

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Thanos let his fingers drum the cool metal arm of the chair. Jupiter's great red spot swirled angrily in the distance. The titan's eyes were closed, he exhaled through his nose. The chamber was quiet, save for the distant scuttling noises of the Chitauri. The Sanctuary II was making its way closer to Earth.

Thanos opened eyes, an eerie glowing red reflection from the windows looked straight back, blocking the view of distant stars. His eyes slowly faded back to their normal deep blue. With Loki's continued resistance, the mad titan had turned his gaze on the humans surrounding him. The titan's lips pulled taunt into a menacing smile as he thought of his handy work.

Without the scepter, complete control from this distance was impossible; however human pawns are easily influenced. On the other side of his ship the Chitauri mongrels would continue altering themselves in preparation for the impending battle. While Thanos continued to think of ways to tip the scales to his benefit.

The Chitauri had proved easy prey for the human defenders before, so he had chosen to shelter the creatures and allow them to grow stronger. If the odds needed evened anymore, he could always send the Avengers dreams to rob them of their rest. But for now he had released the mortal beast to rain chaos upon the human fortress.

Chaos.

It's one of the things he had admired about the trickster, being able to shape desired results from seeds of chaos. It was one of the reasons why he'd let the trickster live when he had found him. Loki seemed too useful, too powerful a being to simply throw away. But his plan had backfired; even after the Chitauri _persuasion_, Loki was as useful as a broken sword. Still sharp, still dangerous, but not nearly as useful as it had been before it was broken.

And now he'd come so close to simply killing the trickster and being done with it, but it was not the right time. No his plan unfortunately has to be played out to the end to be the most profitable. He wanted to end with the tesseract after all. The only uncertainty was the god of mischief himself. The humans would ensure that Loki stayed alive until the Chitauri arrived. The armored man had already found a suitable solution whether he knew it or not, and very soon he would have to put it to use. After he dealt with the mortal monster that is.

Thanos leaned back in his chair still smiling, the Chitauri had outlived their usefulness, they would deliver Loki to him and then their irrational need for revenge would send not only themselves but Earth's Mightiest Heroes to death in the approaching battle. And when he finally pries the tesseract from the Trickster's grasp, Asgard and Earth their defenders gone, will be on their knees, at his mercy.

And then death will come.

* * *

"Tony." Steve said darkly looking in the direction he'd heard the roar. "Clint, Natasha stay here, keep trying to talk to him." Clint frowned at him. Loki continued staring at the ceiling looking less cheerful and more pained then he had a moment before. "Thor and I will help Tony with the Hulk." Steve hastened to the door as Agent Kelly was punching the key code so they could get out. Thor hesitated balanced at his brother's side. Steve looked back hanging onto the open door, "Thor…" The Asgardian looked up. "I can't do this without you."

Thor wavered another second then turned to Natasha, "Do not let my brother fall asleep." Without a second look he ran after the Captain. Steve flinched as they passed the observation room that Thor had left Mjolnir in. The hammer blasted through the door into the Asgardian's hand with a resounding smack. Steve ran faster, they would have to stop and grab his shield…

Steve looked at Thor worrying about him having to fight after arriving so injured the day before. However Thor seemed fine. Although the man was clearly troubled the hitch in his gait was gone and he seemed to run without effort. "Are you going to be alright?"

Thor glanced at him as they turned a corner toward the sound of destruction. "That is the second time you have asked me that question Captain. Now perhaps, is not the best time to ask it of me again."

"Humor me."

Thor continued running keeping Steve's pace. After a moment he thought the Asgardian wouldn't answer, but then Thor spoke, "My healing was not imparted by Chitauri plague, my wounds are nearly healed. However I will be better when I can confront those villains that have wronged us all."

* * *

"Jarvis is the haze gone?"

"The energy cloud seems to have dissipated sir."

Tony watched as Hulk smashed his fist onto the counter where Banner had been working. Test tubes smashed and the counter cracked to pieces. Hulks fists swung again, leaving large indents in the steel wall.

"Woah, calm down Hulky, take it easy."

When the hulk sends you a murderous look you know you're having a bad day. _Note to self not the brightest idea, telling a giant green rage monster to calm down in a small steel room_. Iron man took off into the air…

…and a large green hand instantly grabbed his foot. Hulk shook him in the air, making his bones rattle, "WHO HIT HULK!?"

Hanging upside down and fighting the sudden urge to vomit Tony's face plate came up. "Urghhh… I'm your friend remember? You know, tin can falling from the sky…" Hulk's brows furrowed, he let Iron man fall to the floor with a loud clunk. Hulk hunched over him.

"Tonny."

_Huh. Hulk had never said his name before._ Tony sat up slightly but stayed down, not wanting to set him off. His armor was good, but it wasn't exactly Hulk proof. "You gotta change back to Banner, big guy. Banner and I need to find what out what hit you before you can smash it ok?"

Hulk roared, "Smash!" His fist came down on the sensitive lab equipment beside Tony.

Tony laughed sounding only slightly nervous. He couldn't really successfully get past the Hulk. He had nowhere to go, it would take too long to laser through the steel wall, or get to the door. And if the red haze was any indication, Hulk was not going to turn into a jolly green giant anytime soon. On the positive side, Hulk had not decided to try to pummel him into the lab floor just yet. He'd seen the security footage of Hulk's fight with Thor, and since both guys were pretty close to indestructible, it was kinda hilarious watching Point Break get taken down a few notches. But now… "Yeah smash." He said quietly. Tony smiled half-heartedly. "But why don't we smash _later_ ok?"

Hulk looked confused, but almost…thoughtful, like he was trying to remember why he shouldn't smash him. Tony watched him, starting to get hopeful. Bruce had been onto something, and Tony hadn't exactly come up empty the last few hours either. If whatever that was hadn't interfered, another couple hours of brainstorming, they'd cure crazy zombie Loki, and make him cough up the tessseract. Sooner they got all this figured out, sooner he could get back to Pepper. If he could just get Hulk to change back…

Then the door to the room crashed open, and in tumbled Thor and Steve. Steve stood there long enough to process Tony was on the floor, then he threw his shield. Tony's utter of "Wait!" was lost as Hulk half turned and bellowed at them, promptly getting hit in the face with a patriotic shield.

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Had to cut this chapter in half so a quick update coming your way, as long as you review. Quick! Loki and Clint are waiting!


	16. Chapter 16

*Sees angry mob forming.* No, no I... *Holds chapter up defensively* Rather than give you guys a chapter quicker, I made a longer than usual chapter. A couple of you have expressed the wish for longer chapters so... here you are. I will try to make them even longer if you want me to. I hope you like this juicy chapter, so without further ado, the story continues.

* * *

"Great." Clint watched the door slam behind Thor with a heavy click. "We miss all the fun."

Natasha spoke sounding amused, "It's not like you have a Hulk arrow do you?"

"Not yet." Clint glanced down at Loki who was breathing shallowly in front of them still staring at the ceiling. The third shield agent stood off to the side, standing at attention. "I still don't think he has the tesseract." Loki blinked at the comment but did not reply.

Natasha sighed, "Just leave it alone, Clint. We can't do anything about it right now."

Hawkeye looked her, and then looked purposefully down at the fallen god. Since Loki seemed to be losing his wits, maybe he could get him to give up the cube, if he even had it. "Loki." The god turned to him quizzically. "_If_ you have the tesseract, why don't you show it to us?" Natasha gave him a look but didn't say anything.

A dark coughing chuckle came from the table. Loki watched him with his sightless gaze. Loki could look creepy before when he wanted to, but now that Clint had his full attention, between the eyes, all the burns, and bruises, he was just plain frightening looking. The phrase 'dead man walking' came to mind. Clint glared at him. "I missed the joke."

"Do you _want_ him to take it?" The god's now less then smooth voice asked. He frowned and then looked away starting to talk to himself. "Then again you could just be him trying to get it anyway."

Natasha addressed the confused god, "You mean Thanos."

He rolled his eyes, "Have I mentioned some other powerful being?"

Natasha answered slightly annoyed. "No, but he's not here. You could give it to us, and then he might leave you alone."

Loki laughed again sounding particularly unhinged, "Tesseract or not he'll leave me alone when I'm dead." Natasha exchanged a glance with Clint. They paused a moment to listen to the distant sound of another bellow.

"Why is he so intent of killing you, Loki? What did you do to him?"

Loki ground his teeth, his anger giving him some clarity of thought, he rose slightly, "I did nothing to him!" He hissed then fell back on the table. "It's what he does. He is infatuated with the entity death, and kills in an attempts to please her." Loki's voice turned bitter, his breaths grew rapid. "But he saw that he could use me, so he spared my life, offered to help me. He wanted the tesseract in return." Loki quieted, Natasha had to lean in to hear what he said next too quiet for Clint to hear. "Wouldn't let me die."

Natasha looked up as Clint gave a short mocking laugh. He was glaring down without pity, "So basically, you literally made a deal with a devil."

Loki snarled his left hand a claw at his side, "I didn't have a choice in the matter!" Natasha pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index finger, there suddenly an odd buzzing in her head causing it to throb.

Clint turned dangerously quiet, "That sounds familiar." Clint leaned on the table a scowl fixed on his face. "You seemed pretty willing to me. You didn't look possessed."

Loki's eyes narrowed a trickle of sweat glided down his brow, "I made the best of trying circumstances."

Clint gave a manic laugh, walking away from the table. He turned back to look at him. "Made the best!?" Natasha held her head in her hand unable to focus.

Loki growled, "You think me cruel and condemn me for my vision of a better world, yet you commit similar deeds in the name of your own."

Clint kicked one of the medical monitors, his anger rising, causing it to teeter back and forth; Agent Kelly quickly stepped up to steady it, then backed away her head abruptly buzzing. Clint raised his voice, "You're awfully fond of pointing fingers, Loki. You murder innocent people for your own personal gain without a second thought and you act like you're that much better than everyone else! Then because you're a little uncomfortable you decide to switch sides. _We_ fight to make sure people like you don't slaughter everyone else, killing as last resort." Clint threw his hands in the air, and then leaned over him, letting both hands land on the table. His voice became deadly quiet once again, "You…are…a…monster. No amount of lying or cheating on your part will ever change that fact."

Loki shrieked his left hand swinging across the table to seize Hawkeye's wrist. If Loki hadn't been so injured the attempt would have been successful, however since his right arm didn't work he had to awkwardly twist his body to swing his left hand, aggravating his injured side.

Instead his burned left hand was caught in Hawkeyes fist. They stayed there frozen for a moment. Both surprised. The small effort had left the god pale and shaking. Hawkeye smiled a bit too smugly, "Now what are you going to do?"

Loki glared a sneer on his face, "I do not kill without reason." He raised himself off the table, grinding his teeth against the pain. Too late Clint realized the trickster's hand was glowing green. He stiffened, frozen in place, unable to release his grip. Loki smiled, "There are many reasons why I am known as the god of mischief, one of the most well-known being…. I cheat." The green light from Loki's hand sparked, and Clint crumbled to the floor as if he had been tasered. Loki watched him fall, then let himself sink back down to the table, breathing heavily. He closed his eyes looking pained, he whispered to himself, "I am not a monster."

Unnoticed by anyone in the room a barely perceptible red haze faded to nothing, as if it had never been there in the first place. Agent Kelly fell to the floor. Natasha moaned catching herself on one of the monitors before she fell forward. A sheen of sweat glistened on her forehead. She pulled out her gun and rushed to Clint's side. His eyes were wide and he was breathing heavily. She let out a sigh of relief. Loki hadn't killed him.

She couldn't explain it. She had just stood there and done nothing. They could have strangled each other in front of her and she still thought she would have done nothing. She glanced at Agent Kelly who was pulling herself off the floor, also affected by whatever it had been.

Clint swore, shaking, also trying to get up off the ground. Natasha put one arm around him, to help him up and the other gripping her gun, her finger heavy on the trigger pointing it at Loki. It wasn't like Clint hadn't deserved it, that's what happens when you provoke a psychopath. She glared at Loki who didn't make to move again. "What did you do?"

Loki glared upwards, breathing extremely shallow, "I made him feel my pain."

"Explain." Natasha paused remembering when she had arrived Thor had explained Loki could heal himself, but he had exhausted his magic traveling here. Thor hadn't been sure when, in his brother's current state, he be able to do magic again. "You can do magic…and you're too stupid to heal yourself!?"

Loki took a sharp breath; obviously whatever he had done had really affected him. "It was one illusion, on one person, that lasted only a moment. Childs play compared to mending charred flesh, it should not have cost me so much."

Natasha helped a shaky breathless Clint up from the tiled floor. She sent another glare at Loki, "That does not look like an illusion to me."

Loki smirked in spite of himself, gripping his side, "His body reacted to what it thought was happening to it. Since I was only experiencing '_slight discomfort'_, he should be fine."

Clint steadied himself then, he reached for his gun, "I'm going to rip your head off."

The smirk didn't leave the god's face. "Good, it would be nice if someone would just lop my head off and be done with it…" He took a labored breath. "The suspense is killing me..." He coughed and struggled to drag in another breath.

Natasha quickly confiscated Clint's gun, and stared him down, he frowned and put his hand to his head as if he had a headache. She put her own gun in its holster; then turned back to the ailing god, "Loki?" He didn't answer now struggling to draw in any breath at all. She turned to the third agent. "Find out what's wrong with him." Agent Kelly frowned, but stepped up anyway.

The agent waved them both forward, "I need you to hold him down." They obliged, and she grabbed a small flashlight from her belt. She pried open the weak trickster's mouth and turned the light on, shining the beam down the god's throat.

"Agent Kelly, why haven't I seen any medial personal besides you?" Natasha asked.

The Agent answered frowning down at the god, "Director Fury ordered that there be minimal interaction with Loki for safety purposes. Since our medicines aren't working, the room was being monitored via video surveillance." The Agent looked up turning the flash light off and calmly stepped away. "His throat is going to swell shut unless we get a breathing tube immediately."

Natasha considered her options "Go get a breathing tube."

Agent Kelly frowned once more, "But he just tried to kill us."

Natasha held Loki's head back trying to help him breathe easier. Hawkeye stood beside the table his face a mix of emotions, she couldn't ask his help. Natasha's gaze flashed back to Agent Kelly. She reluctantly answered defending the god. "No, he didn't. If he had Agent Barton would be dead."

Agent Kelly shook her head, "But he was attacking us, we couldn't move…"

Natasha spoke quickly, "He said he only, attacked one person, he can't see what's going on around him, so he couldn't see what was happening to us, Agent Barton was… distracted. Something else is happening."

"And you believe him?" The agent replied incredulously.

Natasha glared getting testy, "Agent, you have an injured man on the table that needs immediate medical attention."

Clint snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the agent, "You were given an order, get out."

The Agent turned away from them, entered the passcode, and left the room. Natasha met Clint's gaze grateful, "Thank you."

Clint shook his head backing away from the asphyxiating god. He ran his hand through his hair, "This stuff has to stop messing with my head." Natasha grimaced not answering; Loki struggled against her hands on the sides of his head, coughing again.

"Loki, stop being an idiot and just let us help you."

Loki struggled to inhale another breath, he gripped his side again, and quietly voiced out a response, Natasha leaned in to hear, "You are not helping me….you…are…prolonging my death." Loki's hand came away, revealing blood. His bandage was bleeding through. Natasha's eyes widened, she pulled her phone from her belt.

Clint backed away farther. This couldn't be his fault could it? He watched Natasha pull out her phone, "Who are you calling?"

Natasha dialed the number and spoke, "Stark, I don't think we have much more time left."

* * *

Tony flinched as the Hulks huge green fist slammed into Steve sending him twisting into the hall. Thor roared in outrage swinging his hammer, forcing Hulk back. Tony rolled out of the way his face plate coming down, as debris from the Hulk splintered toward his head. He made for the door, seizing Cap's shield off the lab floor. He ran out to the hallway finding Steve clutching his chest, leaning against the wall. Tony kneeled down beside him. "For the man with a plan, that was a bit hasty if you ask me." Tony looked him over and then held out his shield, "You ok?"

Steve took the shield and put it back on his arm, "Nothings broken." He spoke sounding clipped. "Come on we need to help Thor."

Tony stopped him, "Let Hulk dance with him for a minute…Cap there was something in here.

Steve expression softened, "You mean you didn't cause him to…" He stopped talking, feeling awkward.

"Me?" Tony said, his robotic voice managing to sound hurt. He pointed at his chest, pouting inside his helmet. "Captain, you give me too much credit."

Steve hoisted himself up, Tony followed his example, "But he was going smash you."

"He wasn't going to hit me, I think…." Tony watched Thor get comically thrown across the lab at the edge of his vision. "I was trying to talk him back to Banner."

"Oh…." Steve mentally kicked himself. If Tony had been calming the Hulk down then his actions could've possibly put the whole base in danger, all because he didn't stop to think. Tony's gloved hand landed heavy on his shoulder.

"In your defense, it looked pretty bad Cap." Tony consoled.

Jarvis urgently spoke in his ear, while Natasha's photo popped up on the Helmet's display, "Sir, you have a call coming in from Agent Romanoff."

"Put her through."

Steve looked up, "What, is it?

"Romanoff."

Steve dodged to the side as Thor was thrown into the hallway landing right beside Tony. Hulk followed stomping angrily; he threw a piece of the ruined counter toward them. Iron man took off flying to the ceiling, while Thor burst the counter apart with another swing of his hammer.

Natasha's urgent voice came to Tony's ears, "Stark, I don't think we have much more time left. We need a solution _now_."

The hallway was the equivalent to fighting in a long metal tube. Tony dodged twisting to the floor as the Hulk made a grab for one of his boots. Steve and Thor took turns smacking Hulk, hammer crashing into his chest, and then Steve's shield would bounce off his back, trying to confuse him. "I'm sorry dear; I haven't found a non-lethal solution for the royal pain yet. And I am slightly busy right now."

"It's not like he's going to wait. What's the least lethal solution, and find a way to make it non-lethal."

He fired a blast while Hulk's back was turned from his repulsor, "Bruce was more invested in the not killing him part, and he is slightly distracted at the moment."

"Stark!" The urgency in her tone increased, "If you don't give me a _something_ then I swear I'll…" Hulk swatted him into the wall causing him to miss whatever she had said. Steve and Thor both jumped forward slamming hammer and shield on both sides of Hulk's head at the same time, making a satisfying gong sound. The Hulk staggered backward nearly falling over, while they retreated farther down the hall, so Tony would have time to recover. With a roar, Hulk righted himself and charged off in pursuit.

Tony groaned wondering if Bruce would have a headache when he changed back. He stood up, "Alright! I don't know if this will work. And I can't take care of the poison already in his system, that's all Bruce. But the machines freeze and short out after continuous exposure to powerful electrical currents. From what Shield gathered from Thor, Asgardians have a higher tolerance for pain, heat, and cold. Loki would have to be exposed to five amps of electrical current for slightly under a minute."

The connection went silent for a moment, "Thor would have to…" She didn't finish.

Tony answered grimly, "Yep. If Loki is going to have any chance of survival, then first he is going to have to be smitten by the mighty Thor.

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Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading. As always tell me what you think. Want a specific character to shine? Tell me, I'll see what I can do.


	17. Chapter 17

What, I missed Halloween? And I got over 200 subscribers? Wow, you guys are truly amazing. So Hurricane Sandy did pass over my area, luckily it didn't do too much damage here besides power outages. My heart goes out to anyone who is still suffering from damages of the storm. But you guys want another chapter, as you have once again patiently waited for, so here you are and thank you again.

* * *

"Stark, there's got to be something else. That's basically putting him in an electric chair." Natasha's voice protested over the line.

"No, really?" Tony let sarcasm drip from his voice. He hadn't moved away from the Iron Man shaped dent left in the wall. Tony tried to sound serious and failed, "Look, this morning Fury implied that I had days to find a cure. And it's not like I normally work on cell sized machines. The fact that I have anything, tells you how awesome I am." He pointed to himself, his gauntlet clicking against his arc reactor, as if she were standing right in front of him. "Besides Loki _is _supposed to be superhuman, or have some alien mumbo jumbo going for him, he barely had a scratch after being hulked, so why can't he survive a little shock?"

Natasha's voice spoke over the line again, "Fury's working with the agents he has on hand, it's not like we have Pym in the area. You don't sound too concerned anyway."

Tony laughed without humor, "The guy threw me out a window. And Loki was supposed to be a prince of Asgard right? I figured 'the All-father's justice' would be a sham, and he'd get off easy. Then he so happens to get struck with some horrible alien super virus. Now I'm trying my best to save the self-proclaimed god that tried to flatten New York, but the only solution that presents itself is _this_. Just funny how things turn out."

Natasha was starting to sound increasingly sour. "Thor isn't going to agree to it."

Tony answered cynically, "If Black Beauty is about to kick the bucket, then Thor isn't going to care what it takes to save him."

"Just get him down here."

The connection was cut. Tony spoke courteously to the dead line, "As soon as I get him away from my green friend, certainly." Iron man took off down the hall.

* * *

Clint was leaning against the wall trying not to run over and pound a curtain greasy haired, would-be conqueror's brains in. He wasn't so sure about Natasha's theory that something had been messing with them, at least unless that something was Loki. Clint honestly didn't know what the heck was going on anymore. Loki's latest stunt had left him more confused than ever. He looked down at his still shaking hands.

He was trying not to watch Natasha who still had Loki's head cradled in one hand as she mostly listened on her phone. Occasionally arguing with, most likely Stark on the other line. Apparently Loki was too focused on trying to breathe to gloat, as he was once again staring resolutely toward the ceiling. Clint had to reassure himself that Tasha knew what she was doing, even if he didn't know why she was doing it. They were partners after all, and so often, they were on the same wavelength, except for right now. Clint was found his head screaming at him, _why does she care?_ It must be for Thor's sake, or relations with Asgard, because it sure wasn't for the tesseract. He took deep breaths trying to calm himself, if he wasn't compromised before, he sure was now.

Loki hadn't been kidding when he said, "I made him feel my pain." It had only lasted a second but it didn't change the fact that it felt like his insides had just gotten microwaved. Clint closed his eyes, he felt his fingers dig into his palm. If Loki did not stop messing with his head, Clint was going to meet his breaking point, and that would not end well for either of them. It was like the tone of every thought Loki was having had just been shoved in his head at once.

It wasn't the same as being possessed by the tesseract, where you had ideas shoved in your head and you just felt acceptance. No, it had been a sudden flash of feeling anger, hate, confusion, and bitterness, alongside the physical pain. But the feelings had been different from his own; he could tell which were invading and which were his. But they'd disappeared as soon as they'd come. It left Clint seething with his own fury as well as echoes of Loki's. He couldn't even remove himself from the situation; neither he nor Natasha had the passcode. They were locked in, until Agent Kelly returned.

"Clint." He looked up and Natasha was staring at him steadily. She had already hung up her phone and promptly put it back in her belt.

Natasha watched as Clint's eyes cleared from dark anger until his face was hollow of any emotion. "What did Stark have to say?"

Natasha was slightly unnerved, although she didn't show it. Normally Hawkeye heard and saw _everything_, the fact that he hadn't been listening in to her conversation spoke volumes for how much he was perturbed. The hollow look to his eye did not fit him either. She still cradled Loki's head in her hands, he wasn't looking at her though, a more accurate description would be he was looking through her, breathing more and more labored. Agent Kelly needed to return quickly. Natasha answered his question passively, "He's going to bring Thor, and sort this out."

* * *

Hulk threw another crate toward them. The equivalent to a storage warehouse at the end of the hall had more room, with its high ceiling, and provided cover. Steve and Thor were crouched behind the nearest storage container. The airborne crate soared over their heads to crash into the wall, spilling pieces of some metal contraption from Stark industries. Thor looked at him expectantly, "Captain, I do not believe we gain anything by staying here." Thor had his feet coiled underneath him like a spring, ready to bound upward at a moments notice. "I do not appreciate hiding away like a coward!"

"We need to keep dodging for just a little bit longer." Steve said confidently. But really Steve was racking his brain for a solution, except there wasn't one. Their brief fight in the hallway had just made it worse. When Banner had last been triggered accidently, it had taken a fall from twenty thousand feet to knock him back to his senses. He remembered the S.H.E.I.L.D. file he'd read before the Invasion, it had mentioned tranquilizer darts could potentially bring down the Hulk, but that was if the Hulk wasn't already at full steam, and if he had tranquilizer darts. It didn't exactly look like any S.H.E.I.L.D. agents were going to conveniently appear with some.

It had also vaguely mentioned that curtain people had succeeded in calming the Hulk, by talking him down. Like Tony had been trying to do, before he-

The familiar sound of thrusters filled the room followed by Stark zooming to the ceiling, "Guys heads up!" Steve rolled away as the plastic container he had been leaning against was crushed flat, with the sound of glass splintering under Hulk's fists. Thor sprang up then turned on his heel to face a disgruntled Hulk, hammer raised.

It was the wrong move, as soon as he had turned; he was met with a backhand hand to the face. Sending him flying into the left wall. Thor hit with an 'urgh' and dropped onto another crate. Hulk continued seething with rage, grinding his teeth together as he stomped over, not finished.

Steve watched Iron man buzz in to help repulsors glowing, about to fire, "Tony, wait! Don't hit him!" Hulk's attacks weren't random; he would only attack those that had slighted him in any way at all. An idea formed, not the best idea but-

Iron Man glanced at him pausing, hovering in the air, "Does the man have a plan?" Steve was sure if he could see his face, it would have had an eyebrow raised. Meanwhile Hulk turned toward the annoying drone of Tony's thrusters. The green brute grumbled irritated, then jumped, like a child trying to catch a butterfly. Tony noticed just in time, bending away from the out stretched fingers, muttering, "Yikes!" Hulk landed on the floor, staring at his hands, looking disappointed that he'd missed. An annoyed Tony yelled from the ceiling, waving a metallic finger at him, "No! Bad Hulk!" Hulk pouted up at Stark.

Steve decided it was now or never. "Enough." Steve stood tall, between two aisles of crates. Hulk turned. "Banner we need you..." Hulk's face twisted in displeasure at the mention of Bruce. He stormed forward, his face promising more violence.

Steve raised his shield bracing himself. Hulk raised a gigantic fist, "NOT BANNER!" He swung, but instead of feeling a massive impact, Steve was lifted in the air, both shield and arm trapped in Hulk's enormous grip. Steve winced when a painful pop issued from his shoulder as Hulk threw him to the side knocking down the both stacks of crates to land on top of him. He gasped as the heavy debris landed on his already bruised ribs. _Ok so don't address Banner, address Hulk._

Tony and Thor cried out concerned and rushing forward. Hulk fumed, fists clenched, nostrils flaring as he stood over him. Steve was partially buried in miscellaneous S.H.E.I.L.D. equipment. He quickly dragged up a hand from under the debris, careful not to jar his shoulder; and motioned for everyone to hold it. Reiterating, he voiced a single firm command loud enough for everyone to hear, "Wait." Everyone including Hulk paused.

He addressed the rage monster again, "Hulk." The monster's face twitched in recognition. Steve thought carefully about what he said next, trying not to offend him again. Another hit would not end well. "I'm sorry we attacked you, I made a mistake." Hulk snorted, but his face had lost some tension, so Steve went on, "We only attacked because it_ looked_ like you were going to hurt Tony."

Tony landed cautiously in the Hulk's line of site. Hulk looked at Tony, then back at Steve. Thor had stayed were he had fallen; now trusting the Captain's judgment, and was watching events unfold.

The Hulk was looking less fierce now and more thoughtful. Steve continued, "…. But now I know you didn't do anything and something attacked you, so we want to find out what that is. But we need Banner's help." Hulk grumbled undecided. "Please." Steve added then waited.

"I'll make sure you get to smash stuff later…", Tony said in a singsong voice, like a parent withholding candy until after dinner.

Hulk's eyes closed as he took several deep breaths. Muscles shifted under his skin, which was quickly shifting to its normal human shade. He shrunk several sizes until a rather less intimidating Banner was blinking in front of them gripping what was left of his shredded pair of pants. His shoulders slumped as he took in the room. His eyes fell on Steve who with Tony's help was clearing the heavy broken crates that had landed on top of him. He watched as Steve stood up wincing, being mindful of his shoulder. Bruce spoke quietly to the floor, "What did I do?"

Having freed Steve, Tony's face plate popped up. He walked up to Bruce and put a metallic hand on his shoulder. "We ruff housed and broke some stuff. Steve tripped and fell into some crates after he failed to address you by your appropriate title." Steve glared at Tony while he nursed his shoulder. Bruce had his eyes guiltily downcast, and then he walked over Steve, muttering something about his shoulder might be dislocated. Tony continued anyway, "And you pimp slapped Thor because he was going to talk back to you. Speaking of which..."Tony turned toward Thor, who now that the fight was over was standing waiting anxiously by the crate he had fallen on. Tony heard Bruce apologize quietly behind him; his hand was on Steve's arm, then he moved it in one swift motion. To the Captain's credit he hardly made a sound as his shoulder popped back into place.

Tony casually walked over to Thor, "So...I don't want you to panic, but… Natasha contacted me and Loki seems to be taking a turn for the worst." Thor's eyes widened, his gaze flicking toward the door. Tony tried to snag his arm before he made a mad dash for the door. "He isn't dead yet, hang on a second!" There was clang as Mjolnir none to gently knocked him to the ground. Thor vaulted over him and sprinted out the door.

Bruce and a disheveled Steve looked up. Steve called after him, "Thor wait!" He looked questioningly at Tony trying not to sound accusing, "What did you do?"

The iron man sat up, "That could have gone better."

* * *

Once again I did divide the chapter I had been working on in two. So the next chapter (dead serious) will be out tomorrow. And you will get to find out what happens to Loki. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Did I make a mistake? Let me know I'll fix it!


	18. Chapter 18

Warning graphic

* * *

S.H.E.I.L.D wasn't as oblivious to the Hulk attack as the Avenger's had thought. When Thor shot around the corner back the way he thought he had come, a barricade of S.H.E.I.L.D. agents with bazooka-like weapons were waiting. Of course they didn't expect an appearance of a certain thunder god. With Thor running full tilt toward them, the agents balked uncertainly, not wanting to shoot.

"Wait." He didn't stop.

"Halt." He didn't stop. Thor continued barreling toward them. The set look on his face told them he wasn't going to stop. Some of the agents moved, other agents didn't decide fast enough. He plowed through their ranks shoving them roughly out of the way and kept running.

It wasn't long until he heard the fire of Man of Iron boots at his back, but he kept charging. _Stark had mentioned Loki's peril so casually. Did it mean nothing to them whether he lived or died?_ Thor could not find it in himself to blame them. But he should not have left his brother's side. Thor had one single person left to protect. And he was failing. No, nothing was going to happen to Loki. He would not let anyone else harm him. If he was just given another chance to speak to Loki…

Thor rounded to the Avenger's hallway, and ground to a halt. The door to the medical room was locked with the mortal device, but after a short tug on his part and it flew open. A female agent was hanging over Loki blocking Thor's view, as his brother was choking and coughing. Natasha held one of Loki's struggling arms flat on the table while Clint held the other. The female agent jumped aside as she heard the door wrenched open to reveal a clear masklike object over Loki's mouth with something going down into his throat.

Thor's eyes widened, he roared outraged, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He was about to charge forward when iron hands grabbed his arm. Thor turned to look at the newest offender.

Tony's face plate came up. He saw Loki, "Ok, this looks bad, but I said hang on a second! Calm down!"

Thor ground his teeth ready to throw Stark across the room, he looked back at Natasha and Clint, "What is the meaning of this?! How did this happen?" He saw Clint's hands were practically claws in his brother's arm. He was staring emptily down at his brother, venom in his eyes. Loki had not been so ill when he had left, they must have done something. Thor took a step forward, challenging Clint. "Did you do this?

Clint looked up sharply, his voice was cold as he answered, "I did nothing to him!" Thor backed a pace. Had Bartonson had just sounded eerily like Loki? Apparently the fact was not lost on Clint as he blinked, confusion flickering across his gaze, realizing he'd just echoed the words Loki had spoken earlier. He released Loki's arm one hand at a time and backed away. He shook his head, speaking quietly to himself, "I have to leave."

Thor was about to protest when he heard Natasha's voice bringing his attention away from Clint as he slipped around them out the door. His gaze fell back on Loki. "Thor." He looked up. Natasha looked back at him with her steely gaze, Thor could almost feet the calm and resolute aura she gave off. She pointed to the mortal thing in his brother's mouth. "This is a breathing tube, it's keeping him from suffocating."

Midgardian healing techniques bordered on barbaric. "He was just choking a moment ago!"

The agent that had been standing over Loki before spoke detachedly, "It's because he's still conscious, he's reacting to the foreign object in his throat." The agent visibly shrunk backward, at Thor's glare.

"Stark." Thor looked back to Natasha, as she he addressed Tony, "You didn't tell him anything did you? "

Thor's deep voice was a growl in his throat, "Tell me of what? What caused him to be like this? He was not so ill when I left." Natasha whispered something in the ear of the other female agent. Thor allowed the women to edge around him so she could exit the room.

Letting go of his arm, Tony moved in front of Thor, so he could send him an accusatory glare, while answering Natasha, "Nope, I was too busying getting hammered."

Thor scowled at him, "You were preventing me from returning to him in his hour of need."

Tony gave a chuckle, "Huh..uh..no, I just knew something you could do that might help but I knew you weren't going to like it."

Thor, ever so noble responded, "Then speak quickly, I will do whatever it takes to assist my brother with the plague the Chitauri have wrought upon him."

Tony despondently replied, "Well that's good, because if he's going to survive, you're going to have to hit him with your lightning."

Steve ran in followed shortly by breathless Bruce. Steve's gaze lingered on the hallway, "What's wrong with Clint?" He stopped feeling the tension in the room.

Thor's brow furrowed, "Why…I don't-"

Tony cut him off, "The machines in his system are going to keep killing him, until they are removed or destroyed. We don't have the time to try to remove them. The only thing we have at our disposal capable of shorting them out, while still giving Loki a chance, is _your_ lightning. He would have to be shocked by five amps of electricity at over two thousand volts for at least a minute."

Thor was growing more apprehensive by the second, he didn't understand all of what Stark had said, but he was not the fool Loki would have everyone believe he was. This was not something that Loki could simply walk away from, even in his normal state. "But my brother is in no condition to endure such an act as you are implying. It would kill him."

"Doctor Bruce!" Tony snagged him away from Steve, "You caught that right? Tell Thor what will happen if we don't kill off the machines soon." Tony pushed Bruce in front of him so he was facing Thor; Bruce was suddenly very interested in fiddling with his fingernail.

"Most likely the machines will keep producing more poison, until his body can't handle the stress anymore and his heart gives out, or the substance erodes an important vein enough that it will tear and he'll bleed out." He looked up. He continued voice solemn, "It's not likely that I'm going to find an antidote. It is literally an alien substance, finding a cure here might not be possible. But after the machines are destroyed assuming Loki survives, and the poison has stopped shifting, he needs to be strong enough to fight off what's left in his system. The sooner something is done the better chance he has."

Mjolnir was weighing extremely heavy in his grip. He spoke now uncertain, "I…will not be the death of my brother."

Tony spoke seriously, "If you do nothing, he's going to die anyway. He _can_ survive the shock…right?" Tony looked between Thor and Bruce.

Bruce looked at Thor silently waiting for an answer. Bruce may have briefly studied the Asgardian cells and had some information from when S.H.E.I.L.D. was holding Loki, but Thor _was_ a warrior from Asgard. He had spoken of a time when he and Loki had fought together, and no one would know Loki's limits better than him.

Thor worriedly searched his head for a similar set of circumstances and found none. "Asgardians are known to be able to survive great injury, Loki especially, but he's always had his magic to assist him. He's never been so run down before. And… he is not entirely Asgardian."

Natasha looked up from her charge, "What do you mean by that?"

Thor glanced uneasily at his increasingly less responsive brother before quickly explaining his fears, "After Loki fell from the Bifrost my father revealed that Loki had been born a frost giant, and he was the son of Laufey, King of Jotunheim. Long ago, our realms had been at war, and Asgard had just claimed victory, the day my father had found him abandoned to die. Even then my brother had a magical potential. My father used his own powers and Loki's natural ability to permanently shape shift him into an Aesir child, to raise as his own."

Thor paused letting his gaze drift across their faces, "My father didn't learn until later that the transformation had been imperfect. Now Loki is neither an Aesir nor a frost giant. He has been struck by Mjolnir's power before, but not for the length of time you suggest. The frost giants are vulnerable to heat. I fear in his current state… "Thor let himself fall silent. He looked at Loki to see if he had reacted, but it seemed Loki was unaware of tale Thor had told.

Tony whistled gave a low whistle, to break the silence, "When you said he was adopted, I thought you meant same planet adopted.

Steve asked the question nagging at his mind, "Why was Asgard at war?"

Thor rotated Mjolnir in his grip resisting the urge to hit something, "The frost giants had invaded your world and almost caused a new ice age on your planet."

"Did Loki know he was a frost giant?" Natasha asked.

Thor remembered back to the look of utter guilt his father had after Loki had fallen. "No, it was days before the incident on the Bifrost that he found out." The Avengers (minus Hawkeye) lapsed into an awkward silence as certain facts clicked into place. Thor looked behind him at the sound of footsteps, as the slightly worse for wear door opened, and the female agent had returned, carrying heavy leather restraints.

Natasha interjected before Thor had time to react, "Thor, we can't just keep holding him down. If you're going to do this, then Loki needs to be restrained so he won't harm himself while he's being shocked."

Thor said nothing but allowed the agent to pass. She proceeded to strap the restraints over Loki's chest, legs, ankles, and head. As Thor watched his anger started to swell. It sickened him to see Loki brought so low. But there was no choice. Whether he liked it or not the mortal's actions were just. _Thanos…_ At the thought of him Thor's hands became white knuckled fists are his sides.

"Thor." Everyone was watching him. The female agent had already finished her task and fled the room.

Steve spoke carefully again, "You should act now while he's stable." Natasha was scrutinizing Thor's expression. He took a deep calming breath.

Tony spoke, "I'll tell you when to stop, and…if you can go any easier …." He looked Thor in the eye, "No matter what happens, you can't stop until I tell you. If not all the machines short out the first time…then I don't think there will be a next time."

"I will not kill my brother." He spoke as if to convince himself. He looked at Loki. His brother's eyes were open, but unseeing. Clean white bandages covered most of his burns, but his skin had settled on a sickly shade of gray. His chest rose and fell due to the mortal machine. But it could have been pumping life into an empty shell for all Loki responded.

Banner stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder, "You're going to save him."

Thor slowly walked toward Loki and Bruce let his hand slid off Thor's shoulder until it fell back limply to his side. As Thor approached, Natasha finally let go of her hold on Loki, and slowly backed away. She wasn't looking at Thor, but as he glanced at her, for a brief moment he thought he saw worry etched on her face. He returned his attention back to Loki. He brought his empty hand forward and tightly clasped his brother's lifeless arm like he would before they would enter into a great battle.

He let go, then raised Mjolnir, still staring at his brother's face. The Avenger's backed away. Thor spoke quietly to Loki, his voice throbbing, "I'm sorry." Mjolnir sparked to life, sending withering tendrils of lightning into Loki's body.

* * *

Someone was gently gripping his arm. Loki was wrapped in the thickening fog of his thoughts once more. The mortals had forced in something that was still sitting uncomfortably in his throat, but he could breathe again. He gave an internal sigh; at the mercy of ants. No quick death for him.

And they were talking…about him? His mind was fuzzy again and it was difficult to focus on their words. Although he had a strong enough hold on his mind to feel a flicker of annoyance toward Thanos, for robbing him his senses. And…Thor was saying… something. When did he get here? The gentle grip on one of his arms ceased, the feeling was replaced as a rough hand clasped his other arm, it tightened its grip unpleasantly before letting go. Thor? Loki listened hard for a moment, one word reached him.

"-sorry." It was indeed Thor's voice. The word throbbed as if Thor was in pain. Had he been injured?

Suddenly Loki's body erupted in horrible agony. The pain ran like the white hot lash of a dragons tongue across his chest and didn't stop. His muscles seized in protest, unsuccessfully, as strips of pressure across his body held him, bound in place.

He tried to scream an objection, but such an action was impossible with the object in his throat the sound came out as an agonized whimper. If felt like a giants hand had reached into his chest to squeeze the life out of his franticly beating heart. As his muscles continued to painfully spasm his mind dimly realized what was happening, he was being electrocuted.

_Thor, why_?

If Thor wanted to kill him why would he take so long? Why would he torture him? Thanos's voice answered bleeding through his mind smug and sure, "_Because he hates you_." The pain only got worse as Loki became more acutely aware of an excruciating burning that was starting to consume his whole body, while his heart galloped painfully onward.

_Why won't I die?_

He heard a woman humming in the distance.

* * *

Tony had his helmet closed so no one could see his face and so he could see a countdown on the helmet display. He was trying not to watch as Loki seized on the table. Before this had all started he had told himself Loki deserved it. But now…

Thor's face was twisted in agonized misery; his hammer was starting to lower as if it was getting heavier. His knees looked like they might buckle. But the lightning went on, waiting for Tony's word.

Tony forced his mouth to move, "Not yet!"

The hammer stopped lowering. It was then that Loki started to change. His skin went from gray to a deep blue, while his wide agonized eyes changed from green to a bloody red. A heart wrenching noise came from this new creature's throat, a plea. Thor bellowed, "STARK!"

Tony waited grinding his teeth and…... "NOW!" Thor dropped the hammer as if it had burned him, and it fell to the ground cracking the tiled floor. The lightning ceased and Thor fell to his knees beside his brother. Thor began apologizing over and over, but Loki wasn't responding, his eyes had closed. His skin slowly faded back to its more human color.

* * *

The pain ebbed. Why did he stop? Why didn't Thor just kill him? Pain. Loki tried once again to scream, to yell, to make a sound, something, tell them to kill him. But he was once again left unheard. The only sound that he could hear was the painful beating of his traitorous heart as it continued beating. He was alone. The pain and burning pressed on him; Loki let it swallow him up, until he didn't have to think anymore.

* * *

What you no like my cliffhangers? *Smiles deviously* Tell me what you think my dears! If I made a mistake tell me I'll fix it! Oh yeah and over 200 REVIEWS! *happy dance*


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